Which lighting is best for a frag tank?

[rebelprettyboy]

the frag tank will be a 55 gallon standard tank. I was wondering should I get 2 of 150 halide watt viper clips lights or 2 of the coralife ones 150 watt halide? And place them on each side of the tank? Or purchase a 48" fixture? I was just thinkin itd be easier with the 2 clamp lights when adding and fixin things in the tank I wont have to remove the whole fixture and what not...
Anyways what kind of light fixture should I go with???

 

[rebelprettyboy]

bump

 

[rebelprettyboy]

No one wants to chime in!

 

[reefkprz]

the clamp lights sound good for what your talking about but I would go with 440w VHO with icecap ballast myself, but thats because I love my VHOs.

 

[matt b]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2562276
the clamp lights sound good for what your talking about but I would go with 440w VHO with icecap ballast myself, but thats because I love my VHOs.
FINALLY someone else on this board that LOVES VHO

 

[reefkprz]

after using VHO for a while I will probably never purchase another type of lighting. (I have run everything from NO flourescents to PC to halides (not t-5s yet) and VHO is the best suited to what I want. though t-5HO may be as good but you need 2x as many bulbs/ballasts to get near the same wattage.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

hmm i dont know guess ill be lookin around trying to see what I CAN FIND

 

[m0nk]

I'm all for T-5. I have VHO and MH on my DT and it sucks up a lot of power, though it looks really good... but on my 20L frag tank I have the 30" Current Sundial T5HO system. It's a great fixture, though I think this one works best on shallow tanks. You could probably do well with the Nova Extreme Pro, which has 6 bulbs and individual reflectors for the 48" fixture. That should let you keep anything under there and would definitely grow stuff out well.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

what kind of legs are on it? do I have to remove the whole fixture to get into the tnk? or can I just kind of flip it up?
I just wanna really be able to get into the tank easy to move things and what not... I know the clamps would be easy but idk

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by rebelprettyboy
http:///forum/post/2563283
what kind of legs are on it? do I have to remove the whole fixture to get into the tnk? or can I just kind of flip it up?
I just wanna really be able to get into the tank easy to move things and what not... I know the clamps would be easy but idk
I'm not sure about the Nova, but my Sundial just has the standing legs that don't flip up.

 

[afboundguy]

Whatever you decide to go with I would got with bulbs that are around 6500K if you plan on fragging to sell. 6500K bulbs make corals grow the fastest because they're the closest spectrum to the sun and who cares if the tank is "yellow" if you're just fragging. Just my $.02

 

[wangotango]

Originally Posted by afboundguy
http:///forum/post/2564001
Whatever you decide to go with I would got with bulbs that are around 6500K if you plan on fragging to sell. 6500K bulbs make corals grow the fastest because they're the closest spectrum to the sun and who cares if the tank is "yellow" if you're just fragging. Just my $.02
That'll be good for growth yes, but IME lower K bulbs tend to wash color out.
I think a lot of aquaculture facilities (if they don't use sunpower) grow the frags under 6500k or 10000k lamps, then thrown them under something like a 20000k for them to color up before they sell them. Which is why I'd use T5 in this situation. You can have both the growth and the color if you choose the right bulb combination.
-Justin

 

[kevin34]

I think a nova extreme would be good for a trag tank if you are willing to spend the money on a fixture.