Please help me light up my 75

ksujason

ksujason

Member
I recently purchased a 75 gallon tank. At the time of purchase, I thought I was going to do a FOWLR. Because of this my LFS talked me into a 110W HO compact fluorescent with 9325 Kelvin lamps.After spending much time on this BB, I have decided to get corals as well. I was wondering what additional lighting I would need to add to make this work. Hopefully VHO fluorescent for cost purposes. Is this possible? Thanks
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
You could keep a wide variety of coral under 4-6 110 watt VHOs, or you could add a couple of metal halides to your existing VHOs. The amount and kind of light you'll want will depend mostly on the kinds of coral you wish to keep. HTH
 
hondo

hondo

Member
Do yourself a favor and go ahead and buy some metal halide lights now. What people (including me) normally do is think I will just get PC or VHO and stick with soft corals. But then once you get going you just gotta have those SPS and Clams and you really need MH lighting for those. You can go to <a href="http://www.aquaticlights.com" target="_blank">www.aquaticlights.com</a> and check out the retrofit MH lighting deals. Use your existing lights for actinic and get some MH and you'll be set and not be upgrading again down the line.
 
ksujason

ksujason

Member
How many MH lights would I need? One or two 175W lights? Do these lights put out an extreme amount of heat? If so I would guess they need to be a good distance from the water surface.
 
luke

luke

Member
The amount of MHs Depends on depth and length. I would say 1 lamp per 24" and I would go with 250 or 400watters They are not that much more and you will not be limited latter. 2 400W MH (10000K) with some actinic supplement (you have that (may need to change a bulb)) and your tank would be well lit and would be able to keep just about anything. Do it right now or wait :)
Luke
 
ksujason

ksujason

Member
My tank is 21", so are suggesting just one MH in the middle? If I build the enclosure, how far from the surface do I need to place the fixture?
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
One MH will light about a 2'x2' area, so on a 4' 75 you would want two, if you go with one youll have dim areas on the sides of the tank, which is acceptable, as long as you keep lower light corals off to the sides. Its suggested that you mount halides 8-12" off the surface of the water, and use a couple of small fans to drive the heat out of your canopy. Aquatic lighting has some very affordable lights, or you could go with PFO which makes an excellent retro that's already wired, with ballast, your choice of bulbs, and a reflector. The price difference really isnt that much, and if you decide to go with two MH you can get a dual set up from PFO. HTH
 
adrian

adrian

Active Member
Thats really a matter of opinion, in my opinion the best MH bulbs are the 65K iwasaki(which is only available for 250+watt MH), and the ushio 10k, I have also used the venture 55k which I think is a great bulb, but it does lack in intensity compared to other bulbs, and the 12k which had a nice color, but even less intense as the 55K. When getting a MH bulb you want to look for color, intensity, life, and price. Do you like a really blue tank? A really white tank? Are you going to be using actinic supplementation which would allow you to use a lower kelvin bulb which can be more intense, longer lasting and cheaper than bulbs with a higher kelvin temp. How much do you want to spend when it comes time to replace the bulb? The best thing to do, if possible, is experiment with different bulbs until you find one that pleases both you and your corals. HTH
 
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