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old man of the sea

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
22
OK ladies and gentlemen, its time now to agree or not, thumbs up or down on this lighting spec for my to be SPS reef tank 8'x2'x2' with a DSB of 4" to 4.5"


The light quote is: for the metal halides - 3 250 watt (Screw in bulbs) (Retrofit reflectors with Reef Optix 1 ballasts. These reflectors allow the heat to dissapate. These lights will be spaced out to equally cover your aquarium, placed in the middle of the tank

For the T-5's: for the backround fill lights I recommend putting 6 48" atinic lights. Placing 4 lights on the front and 2 on the back. These will give you very good fill lights to complement the metal halides. The ballast ( 3 of them) are IceCap units. The end caps are waterproof and also by IceCap. I'm not sure who manufactures the reflectors are by, but they are highly polished units from I think IceCap. The bulbs I was thinking about are 48" 54watt atinic.
 
What was the reasoning behind 3x250 and not 4x150 ? Once you take into account the 4" sand bed you're only at 20" deep.

Other than that, it sounds good.
 
If it was me I would go with 4 MH bulbs. They have a 24 inch footprint which 3 wont cut it. You`ll have some spots that wont have adequate lighting for SPS unless you make sure you have them in the footprints. JMO
 
You will have dark spots using 3 Reef Optix reflectors. You don't get good coverage from that particular reflector. You can, however, easily get full coverage using 3 Lumenarc III reflectors. I personally know of and have seen 2 8' tanks lit by 3 Lumenarcs. 250w is fine for the depth of your tank.

Here's the "Bible" on reflectors.
Analyzing Reflectors: Part I – Mogul Reflectors by Sanjay Joshi & Timothy Marks
Analyzing Reflectors: Part II - Double Ended Lamp Reflectors by Sanjay Joshi and Timothy Marks
Analyzing Reflectors: Part III (includes Reef Optix results)
Analyzing Reflectors: 400W DE Reflectors
Analyzing Reflectors: Part V
Analyzing Reflectors: Lumenbrite III, Lumenmax Elite, Lumenmax, and Lumenarc III
 
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