Good lighting unit?

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JonB

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
36
Anyone have any suggestions for a good lighting unit?

Im looking into setting up a 80G FOWLR but would probaly attempt corals along the road?

Thanks Jon
 
how long is the tank? and what kind of lights do you want? metal halides? T5s? LEDs?

MHs, are fairly expensive, get very hot, use up a lot of electricity, but are extremely powerful.

T5s unless they are indiviually reflected arent as powerful, but cost less upfront and electricity-wise.

LEDs are very expensive, but are very energy efficient, and quite powerful. and most of them time completely customizable in terms of coloring, white/blue balance etc.
 
Probably T5's I dont know the exact size of the tank i think its 60 inches by 20 inches. Im not 100% on the tank at the moment anyway. but it is 80G im looking at.
 
jon..if you can, get a 4', or preferably a 6' tank. more lighting choices and the 6'er will accept tangs.
 
I'm going to go to the LFS tomorrow I'll take a pic and get measurements.

Why wouldn't a 4ft tank accept tangs? Not even small ones?

Thanks
Jon
 
Go to an electrical supply store and ask for a lithonia IBZ 454 rather inexpensive compared to lights made for tanks. But with this light u need to raise it above the tank because it's fully vented and it's possible water could contact components... For your size tank ask for the 6 bulb fixture I used a 4
 

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naturally, the larger the tank the better off for tangs. i would rather keep a tang in a 6' tank..like a 125. it's a good size tank.
you could keep some tangs in a 4' tank, like a scopus, or kole. most of the others get huge and require some swimming space.

scarfish, you aren't going to be keeping any photosynthetic creatures in that tank are you? if so, i would lower that light considerably. 6" off of the water surface is plenty high to protect it from water splashing.

another option is hydroponics lighting. they also utilize excellent, individual reflectors like reef lighting, but there are 2 downsides:
1. they are generally wider than reef fixtures, so you will have to pay attention to that. i have an 8 lamp fixture right now and the footprint is 48" x 24".
2. they only come with one cord, so you can't have a morning/evening transition. photosynthesis is not effected by the lack of a morning/evening transition though...it's just for our own viewing pleasure.
 
I couldn't go to a 6' I'm pushing it with the tank I have planned. I only plan on having 1 regal tang in the tang department (small). What's the growth rate? It can't be the biggest crime to do that? .......but what do I know?
 
naturally, the larger the tank the better off for tangs. i would rather keep a tang in a 6' tank..like a 125. it's a good size tank.
you could keep some tangs in a 4' tank, like a scopus, or kole. most of the others get huge and require some swimming space.

scarfish, you aren't going to be keeping any photosynthetic creatures in that tank are you? if so, i would lower that light considerably. 6" off of the water surface is plenty high to protect it from water splashing.

another option is hydroponics lighting. they also utilize excellent, individual reflectors like reef lighting, but there are 2 downsides:
1. they are generally wider than reef fixtures, so you will have to pay attention to that. i have an 8 lamp fixture right now and the footprint is 48" x 24".
2. they only come with one cord, so you can't have a morning/evening transition. photosynthesis is not effected by the lack of a morning/evening transition though...it's just for our own viewing pleasure.

i can explain to you how you could wire it so you can have two cords.

most fluorescents have multiple ballasts, in an 8lamp T5 you're looking at 2 of them, both being 4 lamp. so its possible to run all actinic on one ballast and 4 of whatever else you want to run, and have just the daylight bulbs switch off at night and leave the actinic running through the night. it just involves drillign out a 7/8" hole, getting a 6' piece of SOW cord wire with a waterproof cable connector, a male cord end and a few marretts


how long is the tank? and what kind of lights do you want? metal halides? T5s? LEDs?

MHs, are fairly expensive, get very hot, use up a lot of electricity, but are extremely powerful.

T5s unless they are indiviually reflected arent as powerful, but cost less upfront and electricity-wise.

LEDs are very expensive, but are very energy efficient, and quite powerful. and most of them time completely customizable in terms of coloring, white/blue balance etc.

as far as i'm concerned the way to go is T5 High Output. metal halides are a powerfull bulb yes, but they lack the surface area that a tube has. you also are not able to get them in actinic, and for an actinic you'd still have to have a fixture fitted with a T5.

with a T5 you can get the same lumens per watt as a MH and you get a much larger area covered less heat and with a 460nm actinic bulb more water penitration, then the pretty in efficiant high heat MH.

the whole watts per gallon method of calculating light has now gone out the window with the new advancments in lighting. when i read the sticky and got to the lighting part i cocked my head and was like why would soemone calculate the amount of light needed for an aquarium with watts, its not even a measurment of light output
 
naturally, the larger the tank the better off for tangs. i would rather keep a tang in a 6' tank..like a 125. it's a good size tank.
you could keep some tangs in a 4' tank, like a scopus, or kole. most of the others get huge and require some swimming space.

scarfish, you aren't going to be keeping any photosynthetic creatures in that tank are you? if so, i would lower that light considerably. 6" off of the water surface is plenty high to protect it from water splashing.

another option is hydroponics lighting. they also utilize excellent, individual reflectors like reef lighting, but there are 2 downsides:
1. they are generally wider than reef fixtures, so you will have to pay attention to that. i have an 8 lamp fixture right now and the footprint is 48" x 24".
2. they only come with one cord, so you can't have a morning/evening transition. photosynthesis is not effected by the lack of a morning/evening transition though...it's just for our own viewing pleasure.
Doug, does this fixture support HO lamps?
 
yep. T-5 HO. 40,000 lumens.
you wouldn't run actinics through the night. just an extra hour or so before and after the daylights. ...but that's really not necessary anyway. yes, the fixture i have has 2 switches, but only 1 cord. that would indicate 2 ballasts. i'm not worried about the morning/evening transition enough to warrant rewiring.
 
fair enough :)

i personally have a 18ich T8 as my lighting now but i'm awaiting my eletrical suppliers quote on a 2lamp T5 HO 24" strip so i can retro fit it inplace of the T8. i also plan on putting a blue rope light as lunar light. i plan on wiring it so when i switch off the T5s the LEDs go on but i'm also tryign to find a timer for it to make it more consistant
 
i use the ones you can find at home depot and lowes. just get the heavy duty kind, otherwise they don't accept 3 prong plugs. they work perfect.
 
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