Ghetto light canopy

[tjp]

I made a box that fit on top of my tank to hold my lights.
This was the plain I have 2 light fixtures 1 36”orbit that has 2 96w compacts and moon lighting (3 white LED’s)

2nd is a well used (been dropped a few times) 48” fixture that has 4 65w compacts in it.
I also have 2 175w MH 14k that came from a wall mount outside warehouse fixture with no reflectors.

So let’s see I have 6 lights switches I have to deal with that in time I want on timers

I didn’t want to take the 36” orbit apart because it still looks and works nice.
The 48” 4 65w fixture needs new bulbs because it only works half the time, I took it apart and going to let a friend rewire it and I’ll put new bulbs in it later.
2 175w MH I’m looking for reflectors so for now I have the sockets mounted on an old florescent light white reflector. The ballasts are mounted on top of the canopy with a fan on them

I will be residing the canopy it was slapped together out of scrap wood.

The 2 96w’s 10k/67k wash out the 2 14k MH’s so should I switch out one of the 96w for something a little more bluer or should I just wait for the 65w’s to go in and use them for just actinic lights?

I was also thinking that I should only use 2 of the 65w’s for the canopy and use the other 2 for the refugium.

This is on a 75g tank with a 55g tank for the sump/refugium.

I want to keep clams on the floor of the tank.

Any thoughts on this set up other than it’s really ghetto looking?

Terry
Yes, that is a canister filter my tank is holding my friends fish and I have too big of a bio load so for now it is on life support.

[Geoff]

what kind of clam? as you go up in K the lower the PAR in the bulb (in general). clams need PAR. not sure 175w MH would be enough for a maxima or crocea on the bottom of the tank. a derasa or squamosa you can prolly get away with.

G~

[tjp]

I really don't understand, 175w MH will be ok if I use something like 10k ?
or do I need to switch the MH's out all togather and go with something like 2 250w's?

after the sandbed the tank is only 14"-16" deep.

Thanks

[Geoff]

on a 55g tank i had i could not keep maxima's and croceas under 175w MH's. lower light clams like the derasa and squamosa could be fine under those lights.

yes, 6.5k and 10k bulbs generally contain more PAR. the lower the K the greater the chance you can keep a clam without having to worry about feeding.

with a DSB in the tank i would go with the 250w bulbs and ballasts. if it were a BB tank you might be able to get away with 175w bulbs and ballasts.

G~

[Bergovoy]

Question::

If he has a DSB, that is raising the tank bottom up higher and closer to the light source, Why are you suggesting more light for a DSB then a BB??

(I have BB, but have 2x 250 watt bulbs, and my crocea is about 1/2 way up and seems to be happy)

bill

[Geoff]

you need more light on a DSB tank in order to counter act the phosphate levels in the water column. this is mainly needed in SPS tanks where the colours of the corals come from the other symbiots in the coral tissue besides the zooax which are brown and green. if the phosphates are high the zoax will be more prevolent in the coral making them brown. if you crank up the lighting than less zoax are needed to produce food for he coral and the other symbiots will show through the corals tissue giving them the other bright colours.

corals browning on you is a sign of high phosphates in the system.

G~

[Bergovoy]

Does increasing the lighting, (Cranking up the lighting) reduce phosphates?

Or ar you saying that the zoaxanthelle does not need to work as much and the other color producing symbiots can be seen, (the brown is drowningout the color,or the color isjust not there???)

[Geoff]

the corals themselves do not need as many zoax. the population of the zoax is diminished with the higher lights. it masks the fact that the phophates are so high.

Bill- here is one of the best threads i have ever read on a reef board. it is heavy reading so grab yourself a beverage of choice and get comfortable. here is another thread that will answer the lighting question a bit better than the uber thread i posted first.

G~

[Dancing4raiin]

If it works thats all i would be worried about