suggestions needed for lighting a Reef tank

[Avonlea,PA]

I will be purchasing an Oceanic 120 Gal Reef Ready tank within a few months. I've just completed a homemade stand, and I'm now looking at making a hood/canopy.

I'd like some suggestions on lighting. I'm thinking of going with 4 VHO and 2 MH. Do you think this is too much? What spectrum should I use? 5600K, 10,000, other? What about lighting sources? I've been looking at products by Hellolights.com, and they seem reasonable.

I plan on having hard and soft corals.

I'd like to install the lights into a hood that covers the entire top of the tank.

Also, I have concerns with protecting the bulbs from the water. A local reef aquarist uses VHO bulbs but does not have any glass between them and the water. I'm under the impression that MH really should have some type of protection. I was thinking of using a piece of glass that is 1' wide and would rest on the lip of the tank (the tank is 2' wide). This would be centred directly below the MH's. I guess I'm concerned that if I cover the tank completely with glass, the cooling fans of course will not be able to blow across the water.

Any suggestions would be completely appreciated, since lighting seems to be the biggest source of confusion in this whole project.

[Jimbo]

Wow nice start on a reeftank

I have a 400 watt iwasaki and about 100 watts of actinic. I need more actinic so I'm going to add another 80 watts.

Nice thing about iwasaki's is that they put out more light than any competitors, but they are a little yellowish. Cost on a bulb is about $59 and they seem to hold up well overtime. I would put in (2) 400 watt MH bulbs and 400 watts of actinic, if you wanted to go that route.

You could also go with the double ended bulbs, they put our more light also. From what I've seen they are available in 250 watt sizes, but put out almost as much as say ushio 400watt 10,000k. Bulbs run around $89 and you would not need as much actinic supplementation. Ushio makes a 10,000k double ended bulb.

I have a piece of plexy glass over my tank. If you go with the double ended bulbs you will need plexy glass for sure to block the UV. The mogul type bulbs already have an outer case that blocks UV. I just like the idea of having something to block the spray from the tank, some people like to just let the bulb get salty, but this seams dangerious to me.

Another thought would be to go with (4) 250 or 400 watt bulbs, two of them 10,000k or iwasaki 6500k and two 20,000 k bulbs. this way you may not need any actinic suplementation. I recommend you do some research in this area. You would not need to have all bulbs on at the same time, you could stagger there on/off times. I use 2 4" 12volt fans on the top of my hood, no heat problems. So you may want about 4-8 fans of this caliber. The fans I use are rated at 30cfm.
Check this link out for temp controlled fans, these babies rock. You can get them at fry's for about $14.
Thermaltake smart case fan II
or you can get them mail order
Newegg on line store

Others will comment on this, there are alot of optons and none are neccesarily better than the others, some of it up to your personal tastes.

Check out this site
www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_bulb_color.htm

Hope this helps
~Jimbo

[Rick O]

I'm pretty much in agreement with Jimbo on his suggestions. Two Iwasakis with (4) 110 watt VHO actinics would look real nice and you would get excellant growth with that setup. Plus the Iwasakis are about the cheapest bulb available for reef use and can go 18 months before needing changing.

[Minnreefer]

A few things that I would suggest, if you can find a salt water club in your area, go look at what other people have for lights, I would lean towards 2 or 3 400watt 20K bulbs. A lot of people really like those, most people have the MH about 8" or more above the water with no glass between the water and bulbs.

Sounds good

Welcome to TRT

Jon

[aquaticsdeptleader]

is this tank a long 120 or the tall 120 thats 4' if its the longer tank i would want multiple mh in the 250 watt range atleast three fixtures if the tank is tall i would prefer two 400 watt mh.

color spectrum is simply that 6500 k mh bulbs will provide all the light the corals need but the tank will have a yellow tint the acitinics will make the tank blue none of these light setups are cheap so determine how blue you want your tank to be and then ask around to see how many acitinics are used to achieve the desired effect. check out pictures of actual reefs containing the animals you want to keep you said softies and stonys i would try to find where that most occurs in nature if at all? and then emulate that lighting effect. The natural look is my preference though if you like something diffrent it can certainly be done becuase the mh will provide for the corals needs

isnt this fun you ask simple questions and everyone has multiple more complex answers


jim

[ctel]

i just wanted to add if you are a diy type, check with you local electric supply for M59 ballast and you can build your own 400 watt mh. on my 125 used two 400 watt 6500k and now im building a bigger hood for some 20k, my friend does sheet metal so i bent up some aluminum and used 1/4" tempered glass for a cover, two fans and a couple of holes. sorry for being so long winded

[Sue Truett]

Lighting also kind of depends on the types of coral you think you may want to keep along the way. I also have an oceanic 120g, 48x24x24 and have 2 250w 65k iwasaki's and 2 96w pc. actinics and this is a nice white color to my eyes. No yellow at all. I tried the 400w iwasaki's and to be honest it was too much light and my sps were stunted. Color was dull brown where before I had beautiful blues, etc. I talked to many about this situation and others said they had the same experience. I ended up going back to the 250w's and all my color came back.

If you are not going to be keeping sps right off the start or if you do IMO the 250w iwasaki's are great. I have them on my 180 and things are growing out of the water. Lots are also using the 400w 20k radiums and these are a nice bulb too. Lots of ideas but if you can check out some local reefers that might help you too. Good luck with your decision.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[Geoff]

Welcome!!!

I have 2 400w iwasaki's and 2 160W VHO actinics on my 125 and I like the colour a lot. I do also suggest seeing as many tanks as you can to get an idea on what you like.

Jimbo-how do you power those temp fans? Do you use a computer PS or do you know how to wire a step motor for normal DC.

G~

[kimmeewoo]

It depends on what you like. When I bought my first lighting system, I got two 250w 6500k iwasakis and 220w of VHO actinics. It was still way too yellow for my tastes. Then I replaced the iwasakis with 10000k Ushios. Much better, but I still prefer a little bluer. I have a LFS with the most gorgeous display tank lighting I've ever seen--they use 400w Ushios. When I commented to them that my Ushios don't look anything like theirs, they agreed that the 250w just doesn't have the same coloration for some reason.

Considering how expensive lighting is, if I had to do it again I would start with 2 400w 20000ks and no supplementation. The 400w makes up for the less light outputt of the higher kelvin bulb, and the 20000k would let me buy only the halide system instead of having to buy a VHO system as well.

The best bulb as far as your corals are concerned is the Iwasaki 6500k. That doesn't mean the other bulbs are bad, but the Iwasaki is the very best. I just don't like the looks.

[ctel]

well were on it i was just woundering, when is there just to much light, i'll end up with 12.8 watts per gallon, but bought four more bulbs just because it was a hell of a deal. would love to hear your opinions. thanks

[Avonlea,PA]

Wow!!

Thank you all for your input.

If there is anyone else out there that would like to add, please do. I'll compile all this info and try to digest it somehow.

As far as the tank, it's the 120 tall (4' x 2'x 2').

Also, I've done a little looking around, and haven't been able to find any information on aquarium clubs in my area. I'll have to search a little more, or be willing to drive further. I live very close to Harrisburg, PA, so if there is anyone out there that knows of a local club, please let me know.

Again, thanks for some of your thoughts!!

[Minnreefer]

Brooke and I currently have a 6' 135 tank with 3 250W 65K iwaski's and 4 6' VHO bulbs, we got the tank with the MH and 2 VHO and it was a little too yellow for me, so I added 2 more actinic bulbs. I think the color looks good, but I have been tempted to switch out for 400watt 20K bulbs with the E-ballast. I think with that you will have a very good looking tank with a little blue tint but great coral colors. www.premiumaquatics.com has them in this link http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...Code=Eballast.

HTH

Jon

[Jimbo]

Geoff I use a computer power supply to run my fans, I picked up a whole case of them at a flea market for 10cents each, but you can just buy a small twelve volt unit at radioshack, just make sure its output matches the fan amprage rating, just glue it into your canopy if you already have it wired for 120. I run a seperate 12 volt bus and have the computer PS on the wall.

Jimbo