one more lighting question

[chili is hot]

this is hopefully my last lighting question for my 125gal aquarium. I found some 175W metal halide lights for sale, they are out door, flood lights, so they will also be sealed against humidity(hopefully they will work).

i'm contemplating, getting 3 of the metal halide lights wich would put me at 525w or 4.2 wpg wich i think might be a little high. or i was thinking of getting one light and 4 55w kits from ahsupply.com, and put the metal halide in the middle and the 55/65 kits on the outside. like this http://www.specialty-lights.com/maristar4.html but the cpf will not go all the way along the length.
what one should i go with? and why?

thanks alot

 

[travis simonson]

If it was me I would go with the three 175w MH lights and reduce the photoperiod if you start having algae issues. Of course CO2 will be a necessity, but I'm sure you know that. Is your 125 center-braced? It might cause shadowing problems with the middle MH lamp (or with a single one, for that matter) if it is.

 

[Hoovercat]

I would probably use 2 of the 175's spaced equally ---l---l--- essentially the same thing as your link but the CFs along the outside shouldn't be necessary. That puts you at ~2.75watts but MH's are really intense and should be sufficient for the goals you've mentioned. If you're concerned about actually getting the full 3.5 watts recommended get the 4x55 kit and put the bulbs on each end and 2 in the center
-l-O-ll-O-l- with the l's being CF's and the O's being theMH's. The 55 watt CF's are ~22" so they'll fit across a 24" tank like a 125.

 

[chili is hot]

the tank does have a center brace, will that make a big shadow? because that would be sorta annoying. but i think i'm going to go with your advice travis, i was mostly worried about to much light. It will actually cost me less to use the metal halide lights to $32 each(canadian(but i might have to replace the bulbs, they are only 4000k. my tank i am getting is only 18" wide (26" high) so the compact florecents wont work sideways.

thanks a lot Hoovercat and travis

 

[travis simonson]

I really like Hoovercat's ideas on light placement. Very original If you go with the MH lights you might just try two first and then add a third if it doesn't seem like enough since you've got that dang center brace (just like my tank). Two 175w MH lamps will give you enough light to grow just about anything given that they have good coverage. I would only use three if two don't cover enough area. Anxious to see how this works out for you. I dream of having MH lights but for the moment am happy enough with CF lighting. Post some pics if/when you get it set up, love to see them

 

[Hoovercat]

Thanks Trav, I'll take Downoi in lieu of kudos

 

[chili is hot]

yah i think i'm going to use just the two lights, and if for some reason it isn't enough light i will move up to 3.

I dont want to start another topic so i'm just going to post this here. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about fresh water sumps?i'm thinking of having a small one to hide all of the equipment. I was thinking instead of using an overfolw box i will just use a syphon so that i can get deeper in the water, and i wount have to build and overflow, to keep the sump from overflowing if my filter fails i will drill two holes about 1/2" below the water so if my filter fails it will break the syphon so the sump wont overflow, and the same from the sump to the filter. the syphon would also cut down on water and air touching, wich would make it easyer to keep the Co2 in the tank. (i drew a pictur but i cant deem to post it)

I think this will work, input would be great

 

[Hoovercat]

CzCz is a member here and has used a freshwater sump successfully. One thing he mentioned is to plumb the CO2 injection into the return line from the sump.