HELP My head hurts!

fishpoor

fishpoor

Member
I have read everything I can find on lighting set-ups and I still can figure it out! I feel like my head is going to burst! I have a 4 foot long and 3 foot high tank. I have fowlr right now but I want to keep a few softies too. I know it will be hard to keep anything near the bottom but I would like a softy or two at the top half. What lighting should I buy? I have a budget around $200-$300 can I do it? I can not spend $800 on lights. (maybe after the kids graduate) ;) Thanks in advance for all the help!
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Check into T5 lighting , much better then power compacts, and real comparable to halides without the heat that halides produce. you can pick up a nice system for not much more than $250, $300,
Greg
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Your sharp nose puffer is not reef safe.
With the depth of your tank, I'd imagine you'd need hallides to get sufficient lighting for most corals.
 
fishpoor

fishpoor

Member
Originally Posted by stdreb27
Your sharp nose puffer is not reef safe.
With the depth of your tank, I'd imagine you'd need hallides to get sufficient lighting for most corals.
We call her Leilani.
She is so sweet! She eats right from my fingers! When I go to corals I will move her to my other tank. She's a keeper!
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
@ 3' deep IMO for the money you are looking to spend you might want to look at the Nova Extreme hoods. They have 2 different 48" fixtures, one has 8 bulbs and the other has 4. IMO the better thing to do is to get 2 of the 4 lamp fixtures. For one getting 2 is cheaper than buying 1- 8 lamp
and secondly you can move them independantly forward or back on your tank. They are in your price range and are HO t5's but they lack individual reflectors. @ 432 watts total you may be able to keep some higher light demanding corals mid way down and softies all the way down. Although IMO any SPS would still have to be kept up high.
Not sure about metal halide but I would guess approx 500 watts is where you want it and im pretty sure you would need a chiller.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by Fishpoor
So what is the difference between t5 and t6? If I WAS to get MH what type of watts would I need?
the diameter of the bulb.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
that price range is tough. if you want to go corals/ reef, one of the biggest expenses is the initial light purchase. However some continuing expenses come from the electric bill and replacing the bulbs. T-5 is a good new option as the bulbs only need to be replaced every 2 years not every 6 months, and produce very little heat, and you wont need a chiller. your tank being 3' deep is 36". T-5 is not recommended for reef tanks deep than 30", but if you get a decent setup you can get some low light stuff or just keep things off the bottom 6" of the tank. T-5 is a great choice economically as they produce great amounts of light. However, they are only worthwhile if the bulbs are individually reflected. for this reason, i recommend either Tek or Aquactinics. these are both great brands, unfortunately for your size tank, i doubt you will find a light rig for 300 dollars. Do yourself a favor and either wait and save up for the RIGHT light system, or dont upgrade. why waste money on something that is not right for your tank, that you will end up replacing in a few months?
 
fishpoor

fishpoor

Member
Could I get 2 of these? for a total of 432W?
48" 216W (4-54 watt) Quad T6 Fluorescent Light Fixture
or
2 of these for a total of 520W?
48" 260W (4-65 watt) Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture
I still don't get it?
I hate to waste ya'lls time, I am happy to do the research, it's just everything I read tells me something different! My LFS says that they will give me a good deal but they seem so high on other stuff?
 
reddakotaon38s

reddakotaon38s

Member
i know where you can get a brand new oddysea 48" fixture. 760 watts 2-250 watt hqi halides, 2-96 watt actinics, and moon lights. separate ballasts and plugs so you can hook it up to a timer and everything. it is $379 with free shipping. pm me if your interested.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by Fishpoor
Could I get 2 of these? for a total of 432W?
48" 216W (4-54 watt) Quad T6 Fluorescent Light Fixture
or
2 of these for a total of 520W?
48" 260W (4-65 watt) Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture
I still don't get it?
I hate to waste ya'lls time, I am happy to do the research, it's just everything I read tells me something different! My LFS says that they will give me a good deal but they seem so high on other stuff?
No these are just compact flourescent lights, you wont be able to keep much of anything alive under them, they are not intense enough, to penetrate the depth of your tank. They are not efficient at all and waste a lot of energy through poor design and heat. Saltnoob has the best advise IMO, but I know what its like to be anxious and try to make somthing work.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
PCs are terrible IMO for anything other than actinic supplementation to MHs, and even then i would much rather T-5. IMO PCs are an outdated technology that have no business being as pricey or more expensive than T-5.
also, T-6 i would stay away from. dont think that just because the "T" number is higher, it means more light, because it doesnt. all the T is, is a bulb size in diameter. for example, the really fat flourescents are T-12s. What makes T-5 so awesome is that they are so thin you can individually reflect EACH bulb and increase the PAR rating about 300% . (this is why it doesnt make sense to get T-5 that is not ind. reflected.)
T-6 is barely making its way into this hobby and you will be hard pressed to find a good selection of quality bulbs created for this industry with the right color temperature / spectrum in Kelvins.
 
fishpoor

fishpoor

Member
saltn00b, I just PM you. if you have a chance look at it and let me know what you think!
Thanks again you have been sooo much help!
Angela
 
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