How should I light my 125?

[yosemite sam]

I have a 125 that has just finished cycling and for the moment is a fish only. By christmas, however, I have been hoping to get it up and running as another reef tank. For my 20 gal. I have pc lighting but I feel that i should probably use mh for the 125. It is a standard size tank: 72x18x22. How many lights should I use and what is the best way to set them up?

 

[melbournefl]

Far from an expert here but that's never stopped me before so ... it's my understanding that Mh generally should be set up with one every 2 feet so on your tank I'd go with three, one left, one right and one middle, 250 Watts each should be more than enough for that depth.
Just my thoughts,
Paul

 

[richard rendos]

I like the 3 X 250 halides (AB 10K bulbs), but I would add either 2 X 160 watt VHO actinics or 4 X 160 watt actinics. With that light setup, you could keep any type of coral/clam/invert you wanted with no problems.

 

[yosemite sam]

Thanks for the help. Are mh and vho kits a good deal online and easy to set up? I like to think that I have some mechanical inclination but I'm not much of an electrical engineer.

 

[tableforglasses]

I took it upon myself to purchase and build a light system for my last tank, I got the kit online, cause it was a lot cheaper and I was and still am poor. I had no previous exprience, other than the fact I liked to play with wires, and I set up the system with no problems at all. The metal halide kit came w/pretty good instructions and I just mounted it to my canopy I built.
Sean

 

[yosemite sam]

OK,
One last bothersome question from the new guy. Actually two. I saw a retrofit package for my size tank with 3 mh and 2 vho for I think around $670. Is that a reasonable price? I have an oak hood that came with the set up. I can just attach the reflectors and sockets, etc on the hood and have the balasts underneath in the cabinets, or is it more complicated in terms of layout? One final question. I swear the last. I don't know if all 125s are like mine, but the top of the tank is divided in two to support the two glass covers, with a hard plastic bar in the middle. If I put a mh in the middle of the tank will it melt this, and will this block a lot of the light? The bar is about 3" wide.

 

[cichlidguy22]

id liketo know answe also i have a 125 built same way and am lookng for lighting i would like to keep corals withot worry of lighting and maybe an anenome in future

 

[tableforglasses]

www.aquaticlight.com
That place has some of the cheapest halide light kits I have seen on the net, but I am not sure there may be better deals out there, if there are I haven't found them yet and I would like to
Sean