New Reef Setup-Lighting Question

[iechy]

Hello everyone,
Just a quick question. I have been dealing with saltwater fish for a few years now but am now trying to setup a 55 gallon reef tank. I have it up and running (cycling now). My question is about lighting. How much/what kind should I get. I have a 1o,oooK now which I know isn't enough but was thinking of adding a 50/50 and a full spectrum. Would this be sufficient? Also does anyone know if I could just by a 48 inch ballast for a shop light at Wal-Mart and attach it to my canopy? Would these normally support the aquarium lights or is there some difference?
Thanks for the help. I look forward to becoming an active user here with my new exploits into reef keeping.

 

[steamboat1569]

If you are planning on keeping any corals that demand high intensity light (most of them are), then I don't think you will be able to do it with wal mart shop lights. I started my reef tank with normal output flourescents, and it did not go well. I try to suggest to people to start it out right the first time. I wish I had started out with Metal Halides, and this is what I had to do anyway. I know that cost is a concern, but you should really try to start your lighting off right the first time.
You might spend a 100 dollars on the right lighting, even if it is only 1 MH light to keep corals under, and the rest normal output.
I have a 55 gallon also and run 1 175watt MH and 2 18" normal output 18,000K flourescents.

 

[beattyr]

Iechy,
I too am fairly new to this. I have found the following site from a fellow poster here on cheap MH lights. I am in the process of building it now.
100$ MH lights
<a href="http://aquarium.union.rpi.edu/rpi.html" target="_blank">http://aquarium.union.rpi.edu/rpi.html</a>
Enjoy
Rob

 

[jeo]

you don't need MH's to do a reef, although they are ideal, you can have a reef with VHO flourecent or PC bulbs which would be less expensive then metal halides. You probably couldn't keep hard corals under them, but soft corals would do just fine under vho's or pc's.

 

[jeo]

just to clarify, you will need a vho ballast to run vho bulbs and a pc ballast to run pc bulbs. There are some ballasts, like the IceCap, which can run both.

 

[iechy]

Great, thanks a lot to everyone for the info. If I get a retro fit kit for a MH could it be installed inside my canopy or would it produce too much heat or anything. My wife likes the tank and all but I think maybe she would be mad if I burn down the house. She's moody like that

 

[zack schwartz]

that much light inside a normal canopy like I think they are 4" off the tank or something would produce a heck of a lot of heat. Should plan on either buying a halide canopy which is like 13" off the tank and could have fans! Otherwise you may need to get a chillerif you stay with anormal canopy. Good luck!
ZACK

 

[iechy]

What about a setup like I've seen others mention for an MH system with the ballast in the stand instead of right over the tank? Would that keep the heat low enough? Would VHO be any good or I am I still better off with MH?

 

[claymore66]

everyone is suggesting m.h. lights.Let me tell you a horror story about m.h. lights.I took the bad advise of getting a M.h. lighting kit for my 55 gal reef tank.my canopy is 13" from water and the m.h. lights fryed everything in the tank.only 175 watts.If it were me I would stick with p.c. of vho lighting.every fish and all my soft corals are now dead becouse of the heat and the amount of light these things put out.they are so strong my arms are sun burnt from working in the tank with them on,stupid of me.Just check out trading and classfieds and look under my add.I am selling these things asap.stay away from them

 

[claymore66]

also a good strip or fixture af vho. or p.c. is all you need.About 220 watts is what a well know marine specialest in titusville suggested to me.He also warned me about m.h. lights.I should have listened.It only cost me about $400.00 in livestock to learn a valuable lesson.good luck

 

[steamboat1569]

I hope you don't rule out MH lighting. Just a little forethought will alleiviate the heat issue. Many of us have MH lights, and have had them for years. You can buy computer exhaust fans for little to nothing, and intall them easily into a hood. You may have to do a DIY hood. It is not that expensive, with some wood and screws and a couple of hinges. I built mine in just a few hours. Set the light high enough to keep it away from the water, as suggested above.
If you do not have air conditioning in your home, though, you may want another alternative.

 

[iechy]

Thanks for all the info. I am still debatng over MH and VHO. Leaning towards VHO because of the canopy I have, which I like and already own. I have seen that I could get 110W VHO bulbs which should give me enough wattage right(220+the 40W I have already in the canopy = 4.73W/g)? I would think these should be compatible with my canopy and overheat my tank. As far as air conditioning goes, I live in New Orleans and if I didn't have my air conditioning on 70 degrees most of the time I'd have to watch out for urchin sticks while soaking in the tank myself to cool down.
Thanks again to everyone for their advice. Now if one of you would call my wife and tell her how important it is that I spend this extra money on lighting, I'll be well on my way.

 

[glenn]

Iechy,
Just remember with the lighting that water will be close to the bulbs and they could get splashed. Besides the heat, that is another reason for the taller canopy. Yes if you mount the ballast inside the stand it will help, nut there still is major heat coming off of MH's. There will be more heat from VHO's too. You can get a matching canopy for your tank that is taller. You will just have to go to someone that does them.
Glenn

 

[smalltimer]

I would suggest to you power compacts instead of vho. I have them and you can't even look at them, the daylight ones that is. I don't suggest the 7100 k actinic because it is not true actinic. Use the existing to run all actinic. Then shove as much power compacts as you can in your hood, they take up less space and a 55 watt pc puts out the same lumins as a 110 vho, a little more to be exact AND they last 12 to 14 months. You would have to change vho bulbs 3 times in 14 months. I only have 2 55 pc cause of the shape of tank. You can get a 2-55 watt retro on the web for $150, heck I can get a lfs for 179$ with the bulbs that's ballast, water proof cords and bulbs. An icecap ballast 660 will run you 185 at least the end caps are like 6$ per each side, 12 per light, shall I go on. Oh, M.H. bulbs do rule, had 2 250 12" above 150, killer coral growth. You have to start out slow and get lots of the fans from Radio Shack 22$ add cord for 2$ more. Start 3 hrs. day mh, 12 normal output. Week later 4 hrs. and so on, put all corals on bottom at first and watch to see them open up, if they start to close during the mh cycle back it off a bit, mh rule, but you gotta have the cooling.
Good Luck <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" /> spitlerbrian@rhtc.net

 

[cap'n pete]

Originally posted by smalltimer:
...I don't suggest the 7100 k actinic because it is not true actinic. (PC's) ...take up less space and a 55 watt pc puts out the same lumins as a 110 vho, a little more to be exact AND they last 12 to 14 months. You would have to change vho bulbs 3 times in 14 months...
Smalltimer,
Can you tell us where you got that data? I have and love PC's and would like some backup data.

 

[bang guy]

Cap'n,
The catch word here is Lumens.
Lumens don't belong in the reef lighting vocabulary. A 55 watt PC puts out about 1/2 the light energy as a similar VHO. And... VHO on electronic ballasts last LONGER than PC.
Lumens are a measure of light around 550nm. This is the yellow light that standard incandescent bulbs produce. Efficient reef lighting should minimize the Lumens and maximize PAR.
PC are great bulbs and are more useful than VHO in tight quarters but comparing PC bulbs to 80's era VHO ballasts is just plain misleading.
Guy
FYI - An Actinic bulb should produce almost no Lumens, if it does I would question the quality.