Lighting Question
- Thread starter scotty37
- Start date
farslayer
Active Member
Hmm, two foot over the water and a deep tank? Definitely not a good idea I wouldn't think. Do you know exactly how deep this tank is? A higher watt bulb will be able to penetrate more deeply into the water. A metal halide basically covers two feet side to side, so you need one for every two feet of tank length. If I were you, I would install 400W 14K DE bulbs. Do you know exactly how deep the tank is? Looking again at your post, you said the tank was two foot deep? If you can lower the lights to about 10 inches over the surface, you will be fine with 150 or 250 watt bulbs.
scotty37
Member
Its hard for me to tell exactly without starting it up. Its quite large. the tank is 2 by 2 wide, 4 long, so 2 would cover it perfectly. I can see what you mean by the height. I like all the area in the canopy to keep from forcing heat on the water. I will look into your suggested bulb. How much am i looking for one of those? I know I am looking at 400-450 on the first thought.
farslayer
Active Member
The height can help, but honestly not that much. The best approach is to get some nice fans to keep them cool, and of course a sump will help keep the water cool too. I would just go for a couple of 250W HQI and lower the lights to about ten inches up. You can supplement with some T5s or even PC lighting for your actinics.
farslayer
Active Member
Depending on how the canopy is constructed, you could mount chains inside and from them hang boards; mounted to the boards could be your lights. The LFS does this for high canopies, so it's another option. I'd probably recommend the 250W minimum if you're looking to go down almost four feet.
scotty37
Member
If I would get the plug and play t-5 retro kit, that comes with 2 bulbs. Ive seen a choice of bulbs. This thing seems much cheaper... no good? Would I want a 36" for a 48 " tank? It seems like If i centered it over the area left over from the overflow, it would cover this area pretty well.
farslayer
Active Member
T5s are great, but maybe go with four bulbs? I'm worried that your lights are just so far high that you won't get good penetration. Not that four bulbs will help penetration (it won't). Honestly, I'd go for the MH setup and use the T5 as supplemental since you don't want to run the MH all day.
scotty37
Member
so we are looking at 2 250 watt MH retro kits. and then T5 actinic, what is the exact title wording to search for that?
Also, Thanks so much for giving me so much of your time and knowledge. I have learned alot... hopefully soon we will have the best setup covered so I can order and be done lol
Also, Thanks so much for giving me so much of your time and knowledge. I have learned alot... hopefully soon we will have the best setup covered so I can order and be done lol
farslayer
Active Member
Well, it's against board rules to post search terms for other sites, but if you just look up some retro kits you'll find plenty of sources. You may even be able to find a good kit which has the MH and T5 together. I'd say 250W HQI is the minimum you'll want, my biggest concern is the depth.
No worries either, I was a beginner once too
No worries either, I was a beginner once too
