55 gal reef lighting selection Advice

mike35019

mike35019

Member
I was at my LFS tonight and seen their display of oddysea lights i was pretty impressed they were running them on both of their display reef tanks and their corals looked healthy. I was looking at picking up a 48" HQI which has 2- 175 watt MH, 2- 96 watt actinic PC bulbs, 6 bluemoon LEDS, mounts, hang kit, and cooling fans....they wanted $599. Not that I was going to buy it from them, but I wanted to shop around and get some feedback. Does anyone else use this brand of light? Feedback? They said total watts was 548 on this setup, would this be overkill on my 55 gal reef I'm setting up? IF I decide to reuse my double 48" strip light which bulbs should I put in for a reef, also have a single 48" strip that holds two 24" lights. COuld I get away with using both strip lights but replace the bulbs? I would like to keep shrooms, polyps, xenia, leather, small elegance or flower pot maybe a small clam. WHat should I go for. Need Help!
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
ok so u like the odyessa u saw at the LFS correct?
as far as it being overkill not really... issues that would arrise would be heat issues with the tank u would deffinately need a chiller to keep the tank at the right temp.... also u would need to run an open top tank and u would have lots of evaporation so u would have to top off daily with fresh RO/DI water to keep the salinity stable
as for using your 48" light fixture....
what are the outputs of the 2-24" bulbs in there currently?? im guessing like 20W each huh?
if they were PC or VHO lights then u could change out bulbs but changing these bulbs to some other Normal Output bulb wont do anything for what u want to keep
u could probably keep most of what u asked about with PC with about 4-5 WPG "i know WPG isnt a good rule but its easy to use with PC lighting".... exception is the clam clams need MH lighting strictly.... and by the way id skip the flowerpot they usually always die!
 
mike35019

mike35019

Member
Murph145 I sort of figured that I would have to run an opentop and have to top off probably every 2 days or so. When you top off for evap you only use fresh ro/di water, not a mix with salt?
I just checked my lighting I have now, and your right the single strip has 2 20w 24" lights init, and my double 48" strip has two sunglo 40 w bulbs? I most likely can't run this setup. I have been looking at oddssea lights, and trying to research them they also offer another configuration: 48" moonlight with 4x65 PC bulbs and 4 led moonlights that was listed for $229, I know I could get that cheaper, this would be a step up from what I have now, but it would be less (watts and money) output then the one I mentioned in the 1st post.
Could you tell me another reputable light manuf. that I could go with? Looking to have my lightng either sit on the tank or suspended like the oddyssea. I'm looking for a middle of the road light setup, that will be ok for corals I previously listed, but won't create a lot of problem (need for chiller, frying the fish etc). The lightng topic can be really complicated sometimes, thanx again for the help
Mike
 
chrisarca

chrisarca

Member
Mike I agree with murph, no clams uder pcs. Go with the coralife pcs. Change lamps once a year and the corals you mentioned will thrive in the proper water conditions.
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
exactly if u want u can email me too murph145@aol.com and i can lead u to some sights to check out lights
good luck its all about what u want to keep and what ur willing to spend i used to be happy with softies but the dark side luered me over and i got the MH's and chiller so i can keep colored sticks and clams
 
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