How much light, how much heat??

[microbat]

K, I am new to salt water fish keeping. I have just been given a neglected 620lt (164 gal or so) tank and I want to keep coral and anemones once the nitrates are down...that is a whole other story!!!

I am researching for when the tank is stabilised.
Anyhoo, I work in an electrical wholesaler, I have access to shop lighters, ballasts, control gear, etc for cost or below prices.
My rep has offered me 3 x 150w shoplighter MH fittings for free and my other rep has offered me some "coral grow" MH lamps for very cheap (around $60.00 aus).
Question is, how does the heat impact the tank (I don't have a chiller yet), how do you mount them, is a single ES better than a double ended, and do you have to spend the extra money on specialised aqua lamps or do standard MH lamps fit the bill?
Also, how do you work out watts per gallon, etc and how much light it is required? I know there are a lot of questions, but better to find out now before I have spent money!
I would like bubble tipped anemone and possibly a long tentacle, among other corals.
Your help is very much appreciated!

 

[scsinet]

Heat definitely has an impact on tanks. If you get too far into the 80s, the coral will be killed. Chillers are not uncommon with halide lit tanks, but there are also many folks that run without them. I personally run chillers on all of my tanks.
A 164g tank with (3) 150w lamps may not be very well lit. The one thing you didn't mention was the dimensions of the tank, which do figure in when planning lighting. I'd probably do (3) 250w lamps instead, but with 150s, you can probably do all soft corals, many LPS hard corals, and probably clams and some SPS if you placed them high enough in the tank.
Generally you build a canopy and mount the halide reflectors and lamps in there, facing down into the water...
Many people will tell you that watts-per-gallon is an obsolete term that's not used... and while it is true that some of the new technologies out there are game changes, the wpg rule is still viable when applied to halide lighting... IMO. In your tank, I would have at least 700w of light for a full reef where you could keep anything you wanted.
Normal halide lamps are not of the spectrum that you require, you need to use lamps made for reef tanks. I've never heard of "coral grow" lamps. Frankly, if I were you, I'd use my $60 per lamp to buy from a known manufacturer like Radium, Aqualine, Ushio, etc. Since you are not using supplemental actinic lamps, the 14-15K range is what I'd use.
I would not try to keep anemones with this lighting setup. Anemones can move, and they might move down far enough in the tank to where not enough light reaches them. If you want to keep anemoens, increase to 250s.
This should invoke more questions from you, which will help get the ball rolling on this thread for you.

 

[microbat]

Thank you for that huge amount of information!
The dimensions of the tank are 1840mm Long x 900mm High (water level is at 550mm) x620mm Deep. It is a bloody big tank especially when I have no experience! Although some people think that bigger is more forgiving when you are learning...
Good to know that lights need to be specialised. It currently has 4 x 96w double(?) flourescent lamps in there - one lamp has a purple side and a white side, I'm guessing these are 50/50 lights I have read about here. Then there is a strip of moonlighting at the back of the fixture, but it is not very bright and I think they need replacement.
From what I understand, the tank was flourishing under its original owner, already with some type of anemone in it and a whole host of other corals. I don't have specifics though... its second owner caused all the damage and killed everything and now I would dearly love to restore it!
So, my other host of questions you knew would be coming...
How many hours a day should these lights be on?
There is a hood on the tank - will this need to be removed or "chopped" to allow MH heat to dissipate?
Does more or less light contribute to algae blooms?
Are the current lights enough or do you suggest MH?
I know alot of these questions can be answered by google, but I prefer the advise of other fish keepers - I hope this is ok...
Thanks again

 

[lilredwuck]

here 72" long x 24" wide x 36" deep somewhere around 270 us gallons and i think you might need halides that deep if i remember right, am i right guys? GENERAL rule of thumb suggests 4-5 watts per gallon, algea is a combo of lights nutrients, and i doubt the 4x96 would come close, most people run open tops, no lids with fans blowing on the surface of the water, like computer fans dc fans sorry holding kid one finger typing.

 

[scsinet]

Yeah fans are what I'd use to cool the canopy.
What I don't understand... if my math is correct, the tank is approximately 72 inches wide (right to left), 35 inches high (top to bottom), and 24 inches deep (front to back).
You'll probably want to try to speak in US units since most of us are stateside, and you'll get the most help that way if folks don't have to do lots of conversions to understand your specifics.
My biggest question at this point... are you saying the tank is 35 inches high but you only have 21 inches of water in it? If so, why is that?
Assuming the tank is 35 inches high and you plan to fill it all the way, I'm not sure I'd use anything less than 250 or 400w halides. That height is significant, and 150w lamps may not have enough "punch" to adequately light up the tank near the bottom.

 

[microbat]

72 long, 36 high (bottom to top of glass, nearly 22 to top of water) and 24 deep (front to back).
It is not full as the hood has rather long skirts, and as the nitrates are high, I didn't want to be 25% changes on more water than necessary. Salt mix here is quite expensive and I don't live near a clean beach so I thought it best to keep it at that level. Also, if it's full, you would never see the top dwellers!
If I remove the hood, I could fill it more but then I don't know about filtration - the filter does 2000ltrs per hour (grabs calculator... ummm, 528.4 gal. the current capacity is based on 622ltr divided by 3.79US gall) and I think I would have to add another 20kgs of live rock or so. Since I didn't buy the tank originally, I am not sure if it can handle the weight (grabs calculator - 1403.184 pounds already in it). Thankfully, my flooring is concrete foundation....
I think the lighting was purchased a long time ago, I have been to countless LFS lately and haven't seen any replacement lamps so perhaps it is very old technology.
I have been looking into LED also, OSRAM has developed some LED lighting for aquarium use, but it is expensive to buy and I don't want to get the wrong thing! But the plus side is no heat, perhaps I won't need a chiller as our house is not often over 82f anyway which saves money there....plus running costs are reduced from $1.60au per day on MH to $0.12au per day LED.
But again, how much light? LOL,

this is so hard!

 

[scsinet]

LEDs are not "heatless." They just produce less heat than halide or most fluorescent technology. So don't assume there is no heat whatsoever. A chiller will almost certainly not be needed however.
LED is also very expenisive to purchase, but the operational cost is so low it may well do to run the numbers and see where your return on investment hits. It might be short enough to make them worth it.