Hey guys I am doing a reef tank 75 gallon I really can't afford to do like a ready to go system ... I'm more of a DIY kinda person if I can get away with it.. I am probably going to get a couple fixtures and mount them directly to the underside of the canopy... but how do I go about water proofing and what type of lights do I want to use... I know there is so many variations.. I was thinking a combination of day lights then the blue lights and maybe even a strip of less for at night... I have tried looking on the site for this info but I'm having no Luck..
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i need some lighting advice....
- Thread starter xsputnikx
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lights are a tricky subject for me. i still just dont get it about lights.
the one whos made the most sense to me about lights is the forum pres. himself, ansley.
shoot him a PM and see what he says. hes a cool guy and always willing to help, even if its 2AM. lol
you will find him under the name docnecropolis.
he can help explain lights, how they work best, and where to get the DIY
stuff to complete the project.
the one whos made the most sense to me about lights is the forum pres. himself, ansley.
shoot him a PM and see what he says. hes a cool guy and always willing to help, even if its 2AM. lol
you will find him under the name docnecropolis.
he can help explain lights, how they work best, and where to get the DIY
stuff to complete the project.
T5 is the way to go if you have a shallow canopy. Otherwise you'll need to run fans, and or chiller.
There are a couple Icecap 660 ballasts for sale now in the forum, and one of those with 4 bulbs, and some good cooling will perform Prefect for any tanks needs. As long as you have good reflectors...
There are a couple Icecap 660 ballasts for sale now in the forum, and one of those with 4 bulbs, and some good cooling will perform Prefect for any tanks needs. As long as you have good reflectors...
JAustin;468907 wrote: IMO 2 Radium 250W SI mh with Lumenmax elite pendants powered by HQI ballast....done.
lol you and your halides... So old school!
JAustin;468909 wrote: T-5s are such a fad....
LOL!!!!!11!!
lol, I'm going LED...the newest fad!:thumbs:
lol, I'm going LED...the newest fad!:thumbs:
now LED is something we see eye to eye on.
JAustin;468929 wrote: now LED is something we see eye to eye on.
I cannot wait to get them
But back on subject. If you want metal halides the way JAustin described is by far the best
T5's there is a million ways to go...
well my canopy is a pretty tall one... so I got plenty of room to work with as far as setups go... Assides from what lighting I need for the corals and such... My main and primary concern is something thats less likely to cause my energy bill to go up...
I think I want to do something like a t5 / led combo... I really want to stay away from anything that will generate too much heat.. although I was planning on installing 2 exhaust fans on the back of my canopy to help with this anyway... just in case..
the only reason I really dont want to mess with the MH lights is because I have no exp with them at all.. and ive delt with the leds and the t'5's for my dart frogs and freshwater setup
I think I want to do something like a t5 / led combo... I really want to stay away from anything that will generate too much heat.. although I was planning on installing 2 exhaust fans on the back of my canopy to help with this anyway... just in case..
the only reason I really dont want to mess with the MH lights is because I have no exp with them at all.. and ive delt with the leds and the t'5's for my dart frogs and freshwater setup
Well T5 is the way to go for less heat. A mixture of t5 and LED will be difficult to do unless you DIY your own LED set up. There simply arn't any good LED setups that are made to work with T5. PErsnally, I say you go with either all t5, or all LED
LED is powersaving, but extremely expensive in start up costs.
T5's will run you an average price starting up, and save some power vs halides
LED is powersaving, but extremely expensive in start up costs.
T5's will run you an average price starting up, and save some power vs halides
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rostato;468947 wrote: Well T5 is the way to go for less heat. A mixture of t5 and LED will be difficult to do unless you DIY your own LED set up. There simply arn't any good LED setups that are made to work with T5. PErsnally, I say you go with either all t5, or all LED
LED is powersaving, but extremely expensive in start up costs.
T5's will run you an average price starting up, and save some power vs halides
Please explain.
Check out hello lights to maybe get an idea. If you do go t5 or vho at first it will be fine. You will have to pick coral and the placement of them to suit. Later move up to better reflectors, etc or go halides as time and $$ permits. You can use the t5's or vho's as supplement if you go halide later on.
There is alot of good reading on here about all 3 if you take the time and search before you pull the trigger. There are also alot of really great deals if you wait a little bit too
There is alot of good reading on here about all 3 if you take the time and search before you pull the trigger. There are also alot of really great deals if you wait a little bit too
xsputnikx;468946 wrote: well my canopy is a pretty tall one... so I got plenty of room to work with as far as setups go... Assides from what lighting I need for the corals and such... My main and primary concern is something thats less likely to cause my energy bill to go up...
I think I want to do something like a t5 / led combo... I really want to stay away from anything that will generate too much heat.. although I was planning on installing 2 exhaust fans on the back of my canopy to help with this anyway... just in case..
the only reason I really dont want to mess with the MH lights is because I have no exp with them at all.. and ive delt with the leds and the t'5's for my dart frogs and freshwater setup
When setting up my system last year, I went through the exact same debate... T-5's vs MH. The T-5's produce less heat and require less energy, and I have seen several member tanks that have gotten great results with T-5 setup's.
I have a deeper tank (24") and ultimately went with a MH and Power Compact configuration. My conclusion... you just CANNOT GO WRONG with the Medal Halides. The Halides penetrate the water better, and simply provides more watts per gallon than anything else. On the down side, I will agree that evaporation is more of an issue... I had to buy and auto top off in order to deal with the evaporation.
I really just dont like the mh lights... (sorry) if that offends anyone...no doubt from some of the research ive been reading about them they are great in terms of water penetration...
I did do a search several times and maybe I just wasnt searching the right terms... I appologize if I asked a overly asked question that I should have been able to find... I thought the forum was to talk and discuss and I figured it would be ok to post in the new section...
my tank is only 20 inches from bottom to top outside dimensions... so there for if I measure from the inside its actually only 19 inches deep... and if my logic is correct my 75 gallon is going to have bout 160lbs of live sand which gives bout a 3 inch sand bed so that puts it right at 16 inches... then if I consider the fact that im not going to be filling the water right to the very rim of the tank but more like bout 3/4 to 1 from the top (depends on how tall I decide to make my internal overflow.. so that puts it at only a 15 inches to travel full penetration..
obvioulsy depending on the light the lumens are able to penetrate deeper than others...
also taking into consideration that my live rock is going to be staggered at different heights to make formation... I think my best bet is when I start doing placement of my corals down the road I would just place the ones that need more light closer to the top and then the ones that dont require as much at the bottom level...
im new to this stuff guys so please bear with me but this is my logic on it.. correct me if im wrong..
I think im leaning towards 6 t-5 blubs setup on timers to illuminate the natural daylight cycle.. and for my night cycle i would probably have 1 center bulb for night along with a few led strips ...
I agree that my best bet is to probably start off with only what I need and add lighting as I figure out what direciton I want my tank to progress in..
I appreciate everyones advice
I did do a search several times and maybe I just wasnt searching the right terms... I appologize if I asked a overly asked question that I should have been able to find... I thought the forum was to talk and discuss and I figured it would be ok to post in the new section...
my tank is only 20 inches from bottom to top outside dimensions... so there for if I measure from the inside its actually only 19 inches deep... and if my logic is correct my 75 gallon is going to have bout 160lbs of live sand which gives bout a 3 inch sand bed so that puts it right at 16 inches... then if I consider the fact that im not going to be filling the water right to the very rim of the tank but more like bout 3/4 to 1 from the top (depends on how tall I decide to make my internal overflow.. so that puts it at only a 15 inches to travel full penetration..
obvioulsy depending on the light the lumens are able to penetrate deeper than others...
also taking into consideration that my live rock is going to be staggered at different heights to make formation... I think my best bet is when I start doing placement of my corals down the road I would just place the ones that need more light closer to the top and then the ones that dont require as much at the bottom level...
im new to this stuff guys so please bear with me but this is my logic on it.. correct me if im wrong..
I think im leaning towards 6 t-5 blubs setup on timers to illuminate the natural daylight cycle.. and for my night cycle i would probably have 1 center bulb for night along with a few led strips ...
I agree that my best bet is to probably start off with only what I need and add lighting as I figure out what direciton I want my tank to progress in..
I appreciate everyones advice
