Lighting Advice

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fishfreek

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 16, 2002
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Virginia
Ok, Its now time to get lights for my 80 gal.

The tank is long and skinny

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aae.sized.jpg


As you can see the tank is 72" long and about 13" font to back.

Since the tank is not that tall 18" or so i think I was thinking of using 4 X 96W PC lights. 2 X 10K and 2 X actinic.

That would give me 4.8 Watt per gallion unadjusted for the fact that PC's are brighter per watt.

What does everyone think of this plan?
 
should be plenty o'light. obviously the light depends on what you want to put in there, but i think the 4.8 unajusted should be more than enough.

make sure we get to see more pics as the tank comes along


Indy
 
Well it looks like I can get the ballst and wiring kits for 2 2X96W PC kits for $229.98 and then two 10K bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs for $127.00 for a total lighting cost of $356.98

Thats less than $1.00/watt.


I was thinking of 3X175W MH's because the tank has two center braces so there are three distinct 2' square areas but that would give me over 6.5W/gal with out factoring in the actinic light so I think that is overkill given the tank is not very wide.

Basicly the tank is the same width and height as a 55gal tank. Just 2' longer.
 
I vote for 3 175W MH. Each one is good for a 2' square. One every 2' is perfect. I am lighting a 75 with these and it is not too much. Just about right in fact (I even have 2 40W NO's). My tank is as deep as yours which is the main consideration for lighting IMO. MH imitates the sun better than PCs and casts reflections from the waters surface to the bottom creating the same shimmering effect you see on a natural reef...very cool. Spend the money on MH you won't be sorry, at least until the corals are growing so fast you get tired of fragging them off. :p

Mark
 
fishfreek said:
I was thinking of 3X175W MH's because the tank has two center braces so there are three distinct 2' square areas but that would give me over 6.5W/gal with out factoring in the actinic light so I think that is overkill given the tank is not very wide.


Overkill???

Most reefers would tell you to use 3-250 watt MH's.
 
Anemoneman and Bob thanks for your input.

I had thought about MH's for the tank since it is 72" long and has two top braces it is already split up into 3 2' rectangles.

One of the reasons I decided to go with the 4X96W PC's is because of the tanks width. This is a long and narrow tank.

The tanks measurements are far from standard off the shelf. I know its an all glass tank as I still have the orgional bubble sticker from the tank but it measures 72"Long X 20" High X 13" Wide The tank is bascily a narrow 125 since a 125 measures 72" Long X 22" High X 18" Wide

In looking at the all glass prodcut line a standard 75 Gal tank is 48" Long X 20" High X 18" Wide so its got an extra 5" of width vs my tank.

A MH light is great when your needing to light an area that is approx 2 sqft but when your acutally lighting a tank that is more like 2" long x 1" wide I felt I would end up lighting more of the outside of the tank than I wanted.

I must say I have seen tanks with MH lights on them first person and LOVE the way they look.
 
fishfreek said:
A MH light is great when your needing to light an area that is approx 2 sqft but when your acutally lighting a tank that is more like 2" long x 1" wide I felt I would end up lighting more of the outside of the tank than I wanted.

The index of refraction of glass is such that the tank will contain a majority of the light. You seem to be under the impression that the 2'x2' rule of thumb is actually a hard and fast rule, when in reality it'e only a suggestion for MINIMUM lighting.

The depth of the water is a more precise factor in determining needed light intensity. A 20" tall tank would be at it's minimum light level with 175 watt MH's.
 
WEll another factor was cost. I figured up three ballsts and bulbs for 175W MH's would be more than the PC lighting option. Plus I would still need VHO or PC for actinic on the MH lights.
 
Doubt I will regret it to much. I have PC lighting in all my other tanks.

45 Tall and a 20 gal.

Lighting is very much a personal preference and while I do love the reflections a MH give I dont love it enough to pay that much more.


I will start a new post with a poll about lighting to get an idea what kind of lighting others have.
 
Thanks,

Acutally my costs where as follows



4 x 96 watt Bright Kit $214.99

http://www.ahsupply.com/96watt.htm

2 10K bulbs $32.50 each

http://www.hellolights.com/96wat1034jap.html

2 03 Actinic bulbs $36.00 each

http://www.hellolights.com/96watac0334j.html

Total cost $369.09 after shipping.

I had not looked at the website given but I did see simular prices at hellolights.com FYI: I did just add that site to our links section for mine and other members future reference. And while the costs are simular what I would have still needed would have been actinic lights. So that would have been either an ice cap ballast for VHO or 2 PC ballasts and bulbs.

Lighting is very much a user preference. While I would LOVE MH lights the "reef" budget just does not have the funds for it.
 
Had to imput a little here....To light a tank properly (for whatever your keeping) all lighting is about the same. The difference between a MH set up and a PC setup and a VHO setup for the same tank is negligable. As Bob showed with the prices. For that tank, you could go with 20K MH bulbs and not supplament with actinics. Or you could use NO flos with the halides....
 
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ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1394567089.783662.jpg
 
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