Lighting for a 125

[jrisgr8]

Looking at getting a 125g 72in long tank. I am considering getting VHO's. My dad is an electrician and can pretty much make me anything I want. What are some reccommendations you would have? How many ballasts? Any advice would be great.

 

[reefraff]

Look at T5 lights if you want fluorescents. They are small enough for parabolic reflectors which doubles the output over a flat reflector. An Ice cap 660 ballast will run up to 3 60" lamps and overdrives them to about 100 watts. I had six on my 125 and recently went to a 3x150 watt halide system which doesn't put out as much light as the T5's. I think the 6 T5's were too much for my mixed reef. The Leathers and LPS look a lot happier with the halides. If I go back to the T5 I will probably swap out 2 of the lamps for VHO actinics or use a Workhorse ballast to drive half of the lamps at their normal 80 watts.
Sunlight supply and Ice Cap make the good T5 systems.

 

[reefnut]

You lighting requirements will depend on what you are wanting to keep. Are you going with a reef tank?? What kind of corals?? Clams?? Anemones??

 

[cveverly]

I agree with ReefNut, it depends on what you are going to do with the tank. Personally I have 10 96 watt CF lights. 10 lights and 10 ballast. Lots of light but lots of heat.
Like Jrisgr8 I am trying metal halide lights (2X250) and I get a lot less light. I am still watching my corals to see if they like the MH over the CF lights. I suspect I will use a combination of both by the time I am done.
You may want to remote mount the ballast to keep some of the heat out of your canopy (assuming you use a canopy).
BTW, There is a guy on the auction site (don't want to mention name in this forum) selling rebuilt 250 watt MH with new reflector and bulb for 90 bux. It is pre-wired and ready to plug in. Consider the price of replacing 6, 8 or 10 fluorescent lamps versus replacing 2 or 3 metal halide bulbs. I think halides last about 50% longer before needing replaced.

 

[jrisgr8]

I really don't think I will be keeping corals in the 125. I will probably be turning my exisiting 60g into a reef, but that is an entirely different story. I will mainly be doing fish only, with LR and LS. I just want lighting that will make my fish look great and be somewhat reasonable because I will be forking out some major cash for the lighting for the 60g. The tank will be in the basement so the lighting is mediocre at best. My dad is great at building/rebuilding things so I just need to tell him what it is I want. Hmm...if I only knew