Lighting questions...

[twistoflime]

I've just gotten a 400g system for the basment. It is 72" wide, 28" deep, and 36" tall. It comes with 2 250 mhs with luminarc reflectors. I would like to do a reef tank (sps,lps, and some softies) though. These lights will not be enough. I have had some people tell me that I will need to get a 1000mh and buying more 250 mhs would be a waste of money. I have had other people tell me that I can just have 4 250 mh with reflectors and that would work. What are you guyses opinions?
Thanks, Diane

 

[ericmcj31]

you're prob. gonna need a couple of the 1000's for a 400. although I got a 320 gallon tank from your measurements?? If so-I'd prob. get a 1000 for the center and like 2-3 more 250's MH. put the 1000 in the center

 

[ericmcj31]

or...a better suggestion--1000 in the middle and a 400 on each side

 

[twistoflime]

ericmcj31;242165 wrote: you're prob. gonna need a couple of the 1000's for a 400. although I got a 320 gallon tank from your measurements?? If so-I'd prob. get a 1000 for the center and like 2-3 more 250's MH. put the 1000 in the center

The display tank is 320g but then there is a 75g sump and a 25g refugium.

 

[twistoflime]

thanks for the advice

 

[steve]

Just do 3 Iwasaki 175 watt in Lumenbright Reflectors with ARO electronic ballasts.

 

[steve]

You'd be surprised... Really surprised.

 

[fish scales2]

It is 36" deep. Can 175 penetrate that far? Tell me more.

 

[steve]

The Iwasaki bulbs beat out d@mn near every 250 and a couple 400's in PAR.

Here's a link:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php</a>

Here's Lee's tank that was used in the study as well.
[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/images/glxtrix_140PARsm.jpg alt="" />

Granted that is only 27" tall I believe, but the LB's are 7" from the water. So it can be dropped down.

The bulbs are probably around 10" from the water.

D@mn RC. Well his images are about 3/4 of the way into the article. It's 3x 175W Iwasaki 15K with ARO electronic ballast.

 

[twistoflime]

dawgdude;242436 wrote: On a tank that size, I say go with the 400w for SPREAD not for PAR punch. PAR punch is pretty overrated unless you want to keep high light corals in your WHOLE tank. When you lay out a tank, you should plan on lower light corals for the lower half of the tank that wont need 250+ PAR. And if you want clams then you should perch them in the rock work. I think it would be a huge pain and WAY less cost effective to have to buy 6 175w sets than 3 400w. Its 1050w compared to 1200w but your only replacing 3 bulbs a year and not six. Also your heat wouldnt be nearly as bad since its fewer point sources of heat with a greater distance btw the water and bulb.

That sounds like a good idea but would it overheat the tank? I've had some people tell me that I need to get a 1000 mh but it would make the tank too hot so I would need to get a chiller and that would make the electric bill go up.

 

[skriz]

DO NOT USE 1000 WATTERS!!!!

Being that you have a 36" height, 3 x 400w would be your best choice if you're going to use 20k bulbs and wanted great par. 400w will give you the best punch to the bottom. 175's will not get you there with that height.

You can grow anything you want with 250w bulbs...anything (I know because I used 250's on my tank which is also 36" tall). The only reason I changed to 400w was because I wanted to use 20k bulbs.

 

[twistoflime]

What are solar tubes? The tank is going to be hooked to an rodi unit. Because that is posaible the the tank has an otomatic top of system!

 

[twistoflime]

Ok thanks for every ones advice. I and my parents have decided to go with 3x 400 mhs with however many fans it takes to keep the tank cool. Also can all mh bulbs fit into a basic reflector?

 

[jason sartain]

My 240 is 31"tall 72" long and I'm running 2-400's on the sides and 1-175 in the middle.
Everything looks great and seems to like the way I have it set up.
My temp stays around 79 degrees without a chiller and my lights are about 6" from the surface with a small fan blowing on them.
Hope this helps?

 

[twistoflime]

dawgdude;242469 wrote: There are two different kinds of bulbs. DE/HQI bulbs and Mogul/SE bulbs (these have a screw in base). The socket for 175,250,400w SE metal halides are all the same but I think 1000w is different.

That means I'll only have to get one more reflector. You see the tank we bought comes with everything we need to set it up, but they were going to do a FOWLR tank. Therefor we need more light. For the first year we're going to do reef safe fish only tank but after a year when we are used to taking care of the big tank we will add corals. I just wanted to know if it would be possible to do a reef tank without skyrocketing the electricity bill. The tank comes with 2x 250 14000k mh which is what we will use for the year we only have fish. Then when we get corals we will add a light and fans and switch the lightbulbs.

 

[steve]

The LumenMax Elite doesn't spread the light too well... It just concentrates the light into a small area, go with the LumenBright reflectors.

 

[twistoflime]

Barbara;242475 wrote: Diane, I still want to know how you managed to pull off scoring that big tank?

persistance. My parents will somtimes give in if I annoy them long enough.. I'm sure if my 30g hadn't of gone as well as it has we would not have this tank but my 30g is doing wonderfully. Also we got every thing we need ot start this tank for only $3,000 so we saved alot of money. I also for my language arts project wrote a perswasive parper about why I should beable to get it and I got a 99%!!

 

[twistoflime]

ares;242472 wrote: its 1 reflector for each bulb, so you'll need 3 reflectors for sure, Id suggest you spend the money on some quality reflectors, makes the lights way more efficient. lumen max elite is a great reflector, but there are plenty of others out there. they run 100-150$ per reflector, and you need 3.

I already have 2 reflectors so I only need 1