How to DIY lighting

[Booboo33062]

I am getting a 150 gallon tank, which is 6 ft. long. I want to keep polyps, tree or flower coral, and eventually anemonies, as well as fish. I was told buy the LFS that I was looking at $600.00 for lighting. After what I'm going to spend on the tank and stand,a pump, and some kind of filtration, that just won't happen. I want to build something myself or with my husbands help most likely for a lot less.
Thanks, Booboo

[davidc]

you can get Fulham Workhorse 7 ballasts at a local lighting supply place - these work well for most fluorescents, and they're sometimes $35 each. You'd need a few of these probably.

You can get metal halide ballasts for warehouses or parking lots for $60 or less each, and then get a decent bulb for them for $60 each. You have to wire it and build/supply the hood and maybe a reflector.

Or you can even go here http://oceanencounter.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=EVMHR
and buy a full kit - you supply the hood. You can get 3 for $480 and have all the lighting you'll need.

[lumbernumber]

Originally Posted by Booboo33062

I am getting a 150 gallon tank, which is 6 ft. long. I want to keep polyps, tree or flower coral, and eventually anemonies, as well as fish. I was told buy the LFS that I was looking at $600.00 for lighting. After what I'm going to spend on the tank and stand,a pump, and some kind of filtration, that just won't happen. I want to build something myself or with my husbands help most likely for a lot less.
Thanks, Booboo

I did all my own metal halides, the wattage will depend on the depth of your tank. 24" is about the max you'll want with 175's. You can buy pretty nice colored bulbs for $50-$60 each, for 6 feet you'll want 3 minimum. The ballasts you can do cheap, just use outdoor, parking lot light ballasts. That's where metal halides came from. A PFO ballast is a fancy box with cheap ballasts inside. Shop Fosters and Smith or somewhere for some $15 reflectors, and make sure you have good ventilation. And MH's with fans will require alot of water top offs, it's part of the trade off for stunning lights.

[Horace]

I am having the same dilemma accept I am dealing with a 75 gal tank. I want to a setup that I am able to do some SPS corals if I want to and not be limited light wise. I am reading in many places that Actinic (did i spell that right??) lights are also recommended to tandom with the halides.

I imagine I would need atleast 2 175W or 250W halides with perhaps 1 or 2 Actinic bulbs too? My tank is 20" deep and 4' wide. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Seems I will still end up paying $400+ even on my 75 gal

[Booboo33062]

I need to just go somewhere and look at lights I guess because I don't know anything about metal halides except the ones that go in our little lamp. Now I'm hearing about ballast, 175s, 250s, housing. Then the guy at the LFS tells me VHO's will be good enough. The tank is 28 or 30 inches deep and I want to keep star polyps and such as well as later getting an anemone. I don't want to buy them just to let them die. Is there somewhere a person can go to learn the basics. I mean from scratch.
Thanks

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by Booboo33062

I need to just go somewhere and look at lights I guess because I don't know anything about metal halides except the ones that go in our little lamp. Now I'm hearing about ballast, 175s, 250s, housing. Then the guy at the LFS tells me VHO's will be good enough. The tank is 28 or 30 inches deep and I want to keep star polyps and such as well as later getting an anemone. I don't want to buy them just to let them die. Is there somewhere a person can go to learn the basics. I mean from scratch.
Thanks

unfortunately this is a complex problem that can only be answered by lots of questions and lots of reading. there are a lot of different philophies on how much and what kind of lighting to use for each application. i like MH's. so i tend to recommend these for most people. whether it is the rare 70w for nano type tanks or 1000w for really deep tanks. i find MH's produce a very nice light that penetrates well through the water. besides it gives really cool ripple effects. if you are thinking of getting anemones then i would suggest strong lights. either a truckload of VHO's or MH's.

G~

[Booboo33062]

I don't even know what all the spects are though.