Lighting options

[sirpat]

Hey Angel, you didn't know that you were opening a can of worms when you invited me aboard, did ya?

Here's my question. I would like to see, hear, what everybody is using for lighting. I would like to know their reasons for using the type of lighting that they are running and I would like to know if they are satisfied with their choice or if they are looking to move toward something else.

Why do I want to know this? I'm in the process of getting a 75gal reef tank setup and this is my last, biggest hurdle. I've read all of the forums (of which I like this one best), I've read the books, and I just can't make up my mind. So I figured I would just get everybody else's input before I make my choice. Also, any and all DIY plans would be great. I'm currently leaning toward doing a DIY, but who knows. I like the satisfaction of building something, but time is always in short supply.

Again, thanks all for your support and comments.

[Reptoreef]

Go DIY... save tons of $$$ and you can have just as good if not better quality. My lighting consists of the following: 2 55 watt act blue pc's, 2 10000k 55 watt pc's, and 2 175 watt 12000k metal halides... this same lighting would suffice on a 75. Another opt is vho's in place of the pc's and 250 watt halides.

[peregrinus]

i'm using 2 110 VHO's and 2 175 MV. the VHO's are run off a workhorse 7 ballest. the MV's were 22 dollars for the setup. i did it for cost savings and to see if it would work.

[Whoyah]

I have a 75 gallon also and I am running 4 x 96 watt PC. I am also going to add 2 x 55 as well. If had the money I probably upgrade to MH. I think the PC are ok for softies but if your going to do clams or sps you need the MH.

I would agree on the DIY part. If you are handy kind of guy, you probably make a great hood for a lot less money. The one thing I have learned is to experiment a little before you build the final product. The experimentation helps point things you may not have thought of, saving you time and the frustration of tweaking your "final" product.

[davejnz]

In my 30 gal,I'm using a 250w CV10k MH driven by an IceCap ballast.I went the MH route mainly to grow Acropora.I find the color of the new CV 10k's a bit blue so I'm supplementing with 1x39w G.E.6500k T5 and 1x39w ATI act03 T5 driven by WH5 ballast.The color is perfect now for me and overall I'm happy.
In my 40 gal,that is LPS dominated i couldn't go with a single halide due to center brace so i opted with a 4 bulb flourescent setup.I bought an IceCap 660 which will fire any flourescent(NO,VHO,T5,etc..)and since i've always heard that VHO act were the best,I went with 2x95w URI VHO act and 2x39w T5 G.E.6500k
The T5's are very bright housed in their single lamp parabolic reflectors.The ballast actually drives them at closer to 63w according to the IC rep.I'm extremely happy with color,growth,intensity with this setup and am glad i went this route.
All lights were bought in retro kits and were DIY'd into DIY canopy.The cost i saved is in the hundreds by doing it the DIY way.

[Buiryn]

I'm using six 5 foot T5HO's over my 125 gallon (72x18x22) tank. Each has their own reflector (from SLS) . I'm using two sun bulbs, two blue bulbs, and two actinic bulbs and love how they make the tank look.

Advantages:

• Two year bulb life! (may not be 100% true)

• Lower wattage needed for same PAR output.

• Better distribution of light. (Corals don't grow to one spot)

Disadvantage:

• No shimmer lines.

• Not good for deep tanks with high light demanding corals (IE: 24"+)

Buiryn

[sirpat]

Hey everybody, I appreciate the responses. I've got a lot of figuring to do before I make a final decision. I know I want to have MHs, but I don't want to shell out the $ for them right now. Besides, it'll be a little while before I try working with hard corals or clams.

[davejnz]

Hey everybody, I appreciate the responses. I've got a lot of figuring to do before I make a final decision. I know I want to have MHs, but I don't want to shell out the $ for them right now. Besides, it'll be a little while before I try working with hard corals or clams.

I know MH in the past were expensive but I know inreef.com sells the CV 175 retro that comes with electronic ballast and bulb/parabolic reflector for around $175(250's only 190),you would need 2 for your 75 gal and that would only bring it up to $350,the CV 10k looks good(white/blue) as a standalone bulb so supplementation wouldn't be needed right away IMO.My 4 bulb VHO/T5 IceCap 660 system was around $300 so its really not much more expensive than a good fluorescent system.

[Whoyah]

The cost of my PC hood was more than that too. That is good deal for MHs.

[jerryc]

I'm running 2*110 watt VHO and 2*175 MH the reason is i wont a mix of coral
SPS up hi and softies down low.