Protein skimmer and light guidance

[ozorowsky]

Ozorowsky, you in tampa?

Cabezon: Yes I am

 

[cabezon]

My office is two blocks from marine warehouse. Good guys, but they have a lot of LEDs to sell. My tank isn't fully set up, but I can show you my 112 leds. They'll give you a sunburn.

 

[carey]

Here are some other options I found on ebay.

72'' T5 HO Aquarium Light 6x 80 watt Reef w/ Moonlights | eBay

72'' T5 HO Aquarium Light 4x 80 watt Reef w/ Moonlights | eBay
72" QUAD Aquarium T5 HO Light 80W x4 Coral Fish LED NEW | eBay
72 " T5 HO Aquarium Light Hood 312 W Coral reef | eBay

So far that's all I'm coming up with in your price range pretty much. They are all 4 bulb or better systems so they are worth a peek I think. One is an odyssea as well.

These arent hi end lights, just enough to grow some corals and keep your tank lit up.

 

[carey]

So far this what I come up with for 36"

WavePoint T-5 Light Fixture 36" 4 x 39 W 460NM/12000K | eBay
36'' T5 HO Aquarium Light 4x 39 watt Reef w/ Moonlights - eBay (item 260758002568 end time Aug-21-11 08:11:17 PDT)
36'' T5 HO Aquarium Light 6x 39 watt Reef w/ Lunar Moon | eBay
Current Nova Extreme 36" T5HO Aquarium Light 156W | eBay

The last one is a nova extreme which is a great light, and it's priced well.
There arent too many options I found but I'll be on the look out.

 

[mr_X]

Thats GREAT info!!!! ty Why don't people just say that? LOL

I been looking the T5 route all along when I guess I should be looking at metal halide

because it's not true. i know a guy who used a 14 lamp (7x 39 watts per 3 feet) over a 30" deep tank and had clams and sps on the sand bed. a 150 watt halide would be worthless over a 3' deep tank, and i wouldn't use anything less than 400 watters over a 3' deep tank.

 

[mr_X]

Out of all of them I would go with 2 of these
36" Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light HQI 406W SPS Lunar | eBay

Best bang for your buck. Don't get the other mh lighting fixture. They are junk.

no offense, but i disagree on this too. you are going to want 3 halides over a 6' tank. 2 isn't going to cut it.

 

[Tomchong22]

because it's not true. i know a guy who used a 14 lamp (7x 39 watts per 3 feet) over a 30" deep tank and had clams and sps on the sand bed. a 150 watt halide would be worthless over a 3' deep tank, and i wouldn't use anything less than 400 watters over a 3' deep tank.

I'm interested in this. So a 7 bulb fixture will be enough light to house Sps and clams on the sand bed at 30" deep? I do agree with the 150watt halide being to little. But would u recommend 2 250watt every 3 feet?

no offense, but i disagree on this too. you are going to want 3 halides over a 6' tank. 2 isn't going to cut it.

My bad I had thought that this fixture came with 2 250watt halide in it not 1. I was thinking a total of 4 halides.

 

[mr_X]

i checked the PAR on a few different fixtures and different lamps for my own private study, and found that my 8 lamp t5 fixture put out more PAR than 250 watt halides at the same distance. as a matter of fact, the PAR difference on the sand bed was over 100 more with the T5s.
i used a hydrofarm t5 ho fixture(for plants), which had a mixture of ATI and Giesemann lamps, and used a reef optix 3 reflector, 14k phoenix bulb, and sunlight supply galaxy ballast for the halide setup.

to the naked eye, the tank looked more blue under the t5 fixture as well.

over my 195, which was 25" deep, i used 250 watters on the outer edges, and a 400 watter in the center. there was a drastic growth and coloration difference towards the center of the tank, under the 400.

yes, the guy had a standard 220, which was 72 x 24 x 30 tall. he kept whatever he wanted wherever he wanted. clams did well on the sand bed. i'm sure his growth would have been better with an extra 2 lamps, but he was happy with the fixture.

 

[Tomchong22]

Wow very informative. I had purchased a nova extream 48" 8 bulb t5 fixture off Craigslist to put on my 60 gal tank. 48 l x 24 h" x 12" d. A ballast is out so 6 bulb. But I am glad to know that i will be able to keep anything I want.

 

[cabezon]

X, does the T5 you are speaking of have individual reflectors? One gentlemen in my reef club checked with a par meter and found the reflector type parabolic Vs individual to be of great importance.

 

[mr_X]

Yes, individual reflectors are a must with T5s.