buyimg lights

plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
Thiis is my first time ever doing this:D First i want to thank everyone for all the info. It has helped tremendously. I have a 135 gal tank that is 72"long that came with a single 48" long 10000k flour bulb. I have 25-30 lbs of live rock and assorted fish and inverts in my tank. I have been looking at various sights and think I have found the lighting system that would work for me. My question is do I need to buy lights that r as long as my tank or can I buy ones that r 48" long. I don't plan on getting much coral. I found 72" long ones that will give me the required wattage for the anenomes that live with me. And has moon lighting and atinic and daylight bulbs. Thanks for the help. This stuff is so much fun but very confusing. Also My anenime keeps rolloing over on his front. Is this normal or should I roll him back over. He is a short tentacled with purple tips. Don't know the exact name I forgot.
:happy: :notsure:
 
capt.lunch

capt.lunch

Member
You definatly need more live rock, 1.75 lbs per gallon. And to fully benefit from that amount of rock, you will need to light all of it properly, (end to end). That much rock plus the corals you do get, and your anemones, all bunched together in the middle doesn't sound very visually pleasing.
 
legion

legion

Member
you do not have enough light that anemone "sebae?"
Keep in mind that on a tank that size you will need some where in the area of 600+ watts of either VHO or metal halide lighting "minimum". I would proly go 750-1400+, it just depends on the kinda of corals/inverts you enjoy and the lights to be used.
You may want more or less, I have never had a tank that large so don't quote, just going on research.
As far as the length of bulbs goes, you will most likely want a 72" vho's or probably 3-metal halides (or both). Shorter vho bulbs will need to be placed so that some are all the way over on each side, or you will have dark spots on the edges of your tank. Same with the halides, place them spaced evenly accross the tank. You could also use T-5 bulbs
The best way to go about it would be to figure out which corals you like and then get lights.
you may want to add more live rock, you can go slow and get some and then more later, but that depends on the look you desire.
 
blemmy_guy

blemmy_guy

Active Member
I have a 72 inch tank also, heres a pic of my lights, they do a real good job, it has 3, 150 watt meatl halides, 4- 96 watt actinics, and 6 moon lights, it came with 5 ( i think) cooling fans built in and all the ballasts and legs, i paid 957.00 dollars shipping and all. If your tank is like mine its only 22 inches deep ( again i think) and the 150 meatl halides will penetrate that deep no problem. Good luck. Todd
 
plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
Hey Thanks for the response. Blemey guy your tank and mine seem to be the same. The lighting you have in your pic looks like the one i am going to buy so thanks for showing it. The only diference is that I have a wood canopy over it. So hopefully the lights won't stick up to far. How high do yours go? If I can figure out how t put pics up I'll post some also. Thanks again
 
plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
Ok I tried to attach a pic but I don't know how t adjust my pic to 500x500:help: Let me know how to do this so I can post my tank and get great advice. Thanks
 
plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
The Light system I was going to buy is an orbit compact flourescent w/ lunar lights. It is 72" long an has 6 96 watt bulbs(sun paq) that includes dual atinic420/460nm and dual daylight-6700k/10000k does this sound like a good plan? Also has 6 lunar lights I think
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member

Originally posted by Blemmy_Guy
I have a 72 inch tank also, heres a pic of my lights, they do a real good job, it has 3, 150 watt meatl halides, 4- 96 watt actinics, and 6 moon lights, it came with 5 ( i think) cooling fans built in and all the ballasts and legs, i paid 957.00 dollars shipping and all. If your tank is like mine its only 22 inches deep ( again i think) and the 150 meatl halides will penetrate that deep no problem. Good luck. Todd
god that's a nice lighting setup. i wish i was in tha money to afford that! :eek:
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
on the subject of lighting, i have a 1000watt high pressure sodium. will that give my tank cancer in an hour, or is it usable?:scared:
 
thesamm

thesamm

Member
blemmy we just got the same lights u have on our 280...we dont think we will be able to keep the hard corals on the bottom but definatly softies...we love ours so far
 
blemmy_guy

blemmy_guy

Active Member
Cool! what do you think about them?? And your probly right, i think the 150's only penetrate about 18 to 22 inches, somewhere in there, . I sure like mine, ive got 3 different timers on it. Get some pics of it when ya can, and congrats on the lights! :joy: Todd
 
plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
Hey Todd how high up do your lights sit. Can I sit them on top of my tank. It has a glass lid over it can I sit it on that. I just wanted to make sure I will be able to put my wood canopy back over the tank
 
blemmy_guy

blemmy_guy

Active Member
Sorry, forgot to answer you!!
anyway they sit 6 inches above the tank, which is just about right. And i took off my glass top, some people have no top at all, and others buy a top called eggcrate, its basically a top made of plastic with hundreds of holes in it, your water might get too hot with the glass top on it, due to the heat from your lights. ill try to find the post that showed a picture if the eggcrate, you can get it at any big hardware store. todd
 
plumbjohn

plumbjohn

Member
Cool Thanks. I see what ya mean. Muchus grashus
Did YA read the description of the lights I was going to get? Waht do ya think of it. Also how do I reduce my pics so I can post them. I'm also a computer dummy hahahaha
 
thesamm

thesamm

Member
todd, we love them so far they make the tank look 10 times better than what it did before...the 280 is 30 inches deep so we will only be puttin low/moderate light requiring corals on the bottom and the high light requirement ones on the middle/top but so far the only problem we have had is one broken leg...and they are shipping us 4 new ones, so far so good what do u think?
 
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