Lighting questions for my new 450g marine tank

[peterac]

Hi all,

I am cycling my new 450g marine tank with 380 lbs of LR and 200 lbs of aragonite on the floor. My current lights are garbage so I will be starting from scratch with lighting. I may find myself looking to add corals eventually but for now it will be FOWLR. 450g is alot of volume so I think that PC will not be a good route to go. What does everyone think? I also have to contend with the fact that the top of the tank is made of 3/4" of acrylic. I am not sure how much the acrylic will cut down on the total light that make it into the tank. There are 2 large oval cutouts that have matching oval acrylic covers.

If I go with MH does anyone have any suggestions? I would like to add a fes fixtures now and add more later if needed. DO they make fixtures that stand on the top of the tank? I ahve a drop ceiling above the tank so I do not know if I want to hang them. How far do MH lights need to be form the acrylic without cause for concern?

I will post a few pics of the top of the tank before I added H2O.

Any thoughts or opinions are very welcomed.....

Thanks,
Pete R.

 

[captivereefs]

What are the tank dimensions? THis would help alot in determining the correct MH wattage and amount of bulbs needed.

 

[Salttanker]

If you're thinking coral later, I would consider some MH for it. This way you won't have to change it up later. 4 400w MH would be a nice touch.

Mike

 

[peterac]

Yes, sorry, I forgot to mention dimensions. The tank is 8 feet long by 30" deep (front to back) by 36" high.

 

[captivereefs]

You will need (4) MH bulbs since each one is good for 2 sq feet. Being 36" tall i would go with either 250 or 400 watts. The 400 watters will do a better job getting down deep into the tank and are alomost required if you want SPS or clams. Take alook at the coralvue retro kits. They are affordable and would do a great job lighting your tank.

 

[peterac]

Darin,

Can I get a MH fixture that will support a 400 watt bulbs but only use a 250 for now. My point is that I do not want too much light yet but also I do not want to have to spend money now and find myself replacing them.

Thanks,
Pete R.

 

[captivereefs]

All MH fixtures can run any bulb. The only deciding factor is the ballast. David at coalvue did tell me you can run lower wattage bulbs on his ballasts because they are self reguulating. I do have a local customer running a coralvue 175 watt bulb on a coralvue 250 watt ballst so think it is do able. I will check with coralvue about the 400's ability to do this.

 

[captivereefs]

According to Coralvue you can run a 250 bulb on there 400 ballast but bulb life may be shortened.

 

[peterac]

Darin,

Do you know if there are any places on these ballasts that I can connect 2 thin wires to so that I can suspend them. I want to be able to quickly disconnect them when I am doing maintenance. Since I will have the wires coming through my ceiling tile on my drop ceiling I won't be able to rig up a pully system to raise them so I want to be able to disconnect them and put them off to the side.

Thanks for the info in your previous post.

Pete R.