Everyone post your lighting set ups!!

[kyarnkid]

I am new to the lighting aspect of reef tanks. I was wondering what everyone ran on their tanks and I was going to choose my lighting set up from what everyone else had on their tanks. Just post what you have on your tank and how much you like it.
Optional, include what you paid for it if you do not mind, that way I would know what my pricing range is.
Thanks guys

 

[bentrue]

i have a 29g tank and my lighting is as follows:
2x55watt PCs, so i get about 4 watts per gallon. this isn't that much but with a smaller tank i think it is working perfectly.
1 is a 10,000K
1 is a actinic
be prepared for a HUGE algae bloom when you add the new lights if you are upgrading from the lowly regular flos.

 

[mlm]

55 gallon tank with 3 x 110 watt VHO and 2 x 55 watt power compact.

 

[ak_reefer]

I have a 45 gallon with 2 96 watt smartlites, 1 55watt 6500k, and 1 55watt 7100k ac. I am changing my 55watt 6500k to 10000k. But I love my pcs. My 96 watt Smartlite Retros were 85.00 a piece and my 2 55 watts were 100.00.

 

[wamp]

180 gallon
3 175w 6500k halides
3 VHO 160w actinic
1 VHO 160w 50/50
In a custom hood made by my good friend Richard at tropicalfish land in Jackson TN. not a plug! just if your in town stop by and talk to him.

 

[luke]

1 175 watt MH (10,000K) over my 10 gallon reef, I love it (but would like more light).
Luke

 

[ebeckels]

2 96 watt PC's sitting on the glass of a 46 gallon bow.

 

[adrian]

75 gallon: 2 175 MH w/55k bulbs, a 250 MH with 65k bulb, and two 110 watt VHO w/ actinics.
(all the halides will soon be replaced with 2 400 watt MH running 65k bulbs) This tank houses corals which are native to areas with intense sunlight.
55 gallon: 2 175 MH w/10K bulbs, and two 40 watt NO, one actinic bulb, one actinic white. This tank houses mostly soft corals, which do not recieve intense sunlight in nature, they come from deeper waters.
Both of these groups of corals can survive under greater or lesser amounts of light, but IMO you get the best reults when you mimic nature as closely as possible.
As you can see the type of lighting you choose should not only depend on your wallet and what everyone else is happy with, but have more to do with the types of corals you plan on keeping. HTH

 

[kijak]

125 with 2-36" 110 watt PC and a retro'ed 20" 32 watt pc. and on the 46 bow a 36" 110 watt PC. I plan on doubling the 110 watt PC's in the future.

 

[josh]

Hi,
I have a 29 gall. with a 55 watt 10K and 55 watt 03 actinic pc lights. I have been happy with them, I am able to keep most all softies I want to.
-Josh-

 

[deuce_bigalo]

150 gall
3 - 175 watt 10000k hylides
2 - 40 watt actinic

 

[nm reef]

55 reef:
4x65 watt CSL pc's(10k)
2x110 watt URI VHO(actinic)
all installed in a custom designed canopy for approximately $500

 

[jond]

37 gal. w/ Icecap 660 and 3-24" VHO's. 1-daylight, 1-50/50 and 1-actinic. Works great for me.

 

[fender]

1 250W DIY Iwasaki 6500K MV
1 Power Glo 40W NO
3 Full Spectrum 40W NO

 

[lordofthereef]

16G reef,
two csl smartlamps total 64w, 100 dollars.
29g reef,
diy hood with equipment from electric store,
two 55w, one 10,000k, one 50/50, and two 20w
actinics, around 150 dollars.
40 breeder xenia tank,
diy hood with equipment from electric store,
two 95w vho 10,000k, and two 30w actinics,
almost 200 dollars.

 

[kung fu]

110 gallon reef
4' x 55 watt Jalli Light Bar
2 Coralife 10,000K 21" x 55 watt Compact Fluorescents (for Jalli)
2 Coralife 50/50 6000K Daylight/Actinic Compact Fluorescents (for Jalli)
4' x 20 watt Perfecto Light Bar
2 Coralife 24" x 24 watt Actinic Fluorescents (for Perfecto)
2 18" Jalli Compact Light Bars (for sump)
1 50/50 compact (for sump)
1 normal Phillips daylight fluorescent (for sump)
Peace...

 

[kdlbem]

75 gal tank-
1 Icecap 430 ballast with 2 URI actinics
2-CSL 2x55 watt PC ballasts with 4 6500k bulbs
1(soon to be 2)120 volt computer fan
and a home-made canopy built to match the stand
Cost- $250 for the PC's, got the Icecap in exchange for setting up a tank for a friend, about a hundred for the rest of the VHO stuff(bulbs,endcaps,wire) $15 for the fan, and about $60-70 for the hood materials.
So around $400 for all of it, but if I was to do it over again, I'd go Halides.
Happy shopping!!!
HTH,
B

 

[cyn]

I have JBJ PC's and love it! Total watts 220 on a 55 gal. 110w of actnic and 110w of 10,000k daylight. My corals include: candy, green open brain, frogspawn, green star polyps, fox, leather, button polyps, shrooms of a couple varieties, and my newest.. yellow elegance. LOOKIN GOOD!! The cost was about $350.00 and so far, well worth the expense!
cyn

 

[jedimaster]

It appears I am the only one with NO florecent lights.
I have 8 48" NO florecent lights.
2 20k
2 18k
4 10k
Although my wattage output is not very high my lumen output at the center of my tank is about near what everyone else here has. No put out about the same lumens per watt that MH's do, and more than VHO's. So my 320 watts of NO gets about the same lumens of 400 watts of VHO. Not that I am knocking VHO's but If you have the room for NO's they are a good alternative, I'll have to see how it goes once I get some corals in their though. I have read in many places that if you can fi the equivalent lumens of NO vrvs VHO you are better off with NO, but they run a bit more expensive but the bulbs are much cheaper, lots of trade offs both ways.
Having said all of that I would certainly go with a mix of MH and NO if I have the money. Maybe in the future I'll replace the 4 10k NO's with a pair of MH's, but the budget will decide that. Another thing. I could have also put 4 10k 110 wat VHO in stead of the 4 40 watt NO, but when I setup the lights I have no intention of going reef. I'll tell you this though My tank is very bright, certainly brighter than any tank I have seen at an LFS and everything has a very nice color to it.
So in short if you have the money go with MH's placeed one every two feet of tank length, 20" or less 175s should be ok but anything deeper and you'll want 250's. You will also want to add a bar or two of Floreceent actinics. to round out the spectrum. If your going FO/fowlr than NO's or VHO will be just fine. Keep in mind their are lots of beaiful low light corals, so figure out what you want in your tank before you put stuff on the top of your tank.

 

[banshee]

75 GAL
2 Full Spectrum 96 Watt Power Compact
2 Blue Actinic 96 Watt Power Compact
Seems to be working great for almost 2 years...