Newbie Lighting Question

[jgb23]

I have a newbie question regarding lighting. I am close to buying a tank and come to the realization that the lighting is probably the biggest pinch in my budget.
The tank I am getting is a standard 75 gallon tank. I would like to have some LR, fish, and corals (all types).

I have been reading a lot of message threads regarding lighting. I am a little confused as to exactly what I need. Do I go with a mixture of lighting (MH and CF) or can I use all of one (MH, VHO, CF). What are the benefits/disadvantages of running all one kind of lighting.

Also, along with wattage, what is a good spectrum coverage, bulb wise?

Finally, I found what I believe to be a good deal, wattage per dollar wise here: http://www.hellolights.com/4lamvhoretki2.html. If I were to go with this system and get bulbs that give me good spectrum coverage, what are the drawbacks. With bulbs and fixtures, the price is about 260.00.

Any help is always appreciated.

Joe

[Poseidon]

Hey Joe,

I would drop power compact from your list, I believe it is on its way out. You are correct that lighting will take a significant part of your budget, but it will be even MORE expensive if you have to make the purchase TWICE! I would narrow your search down to MH (metal halide) and T5. I use 2 250W (Power CONSUMPTION) metal halide bulbs, they are 10K (color), I use electronic ballasts (more efficient), and lastly I chose Mogul sockets and "spider" reflectors. I also use a single VHO actinic bulb for color only.

Here is a simple thing to remember with MH, the lower the "K" number the more yellow it will appear, the higher the number the more blue it will look. Also the K number affects the useable radiation, the lower the K the faster the coral will grow, the higher the K number, usually means less growth. However higher K values often result in better coral colors... I'll bet you are starting to see the dilema huh?

If you choose T5, for a 75 gallon tank, I would use an 8 bulb set up. If you go with MH then you will only need 2 bulbs, but the power consumption will be greater.

Realistically, I would expect your lighting purchase to fall between $400-500. Any less then that, and I don't think you will be happy long term.

Make sure to check out our sponsor pages to, I am sure you will find a good price.

[jgb23]

So if I go with MH (2*250W) do I get both bulbs in the same spectrum (say 10,000) and then use a T-5 or VHO at a higher and lower spectrum, say 20K and 6.5K)
I assume that two mh at two different wavelengths would cause some color distractions in the tank. Just me trying to look at this logically, so I could be totally wrong.

[charlie]

Mike gave you some great info!!!!
I would get the 2 MH bulbs at the same K value. The only thing I would do different is go with VHO for actinic supplementationm or the dawn- dusk effect. That would be just a personal preference tho.
I think the VHO makes the corals colors really jump at you. Take your time and that way you only have to make the choice once and save yourself some money. HTH

[jgb23]

So my plan is two 250W electric balance MH running at 10K and either a single or double VHO for actinic supplementation, running a URI Super Actinic. Does the super actinic give you dusk/dawn effect?

[charlie]

So my plan is two 250W electric balance MH running at 10K and either a single or double VHO for actinic supplementation, running a URI Super Actinic. Does the super actinic give you dusk/dawn effect?

Yes, it will do a good job of that.

[Poseidon]

Yup, your choice is a good one, if I do say so myself. (That is what I have, so how could it be a BAD one? LOL )

[jgb23]

So figuring out my cost (from an electric bill perspective), 2 *250 W (MH) + 2* 110W (VHO) equates to 770 watts per hour. If I run the lights 12 hours a day (770 *12) = 9240 Watts or 9.24 KW per day. Over a 30 day period, that comes out to 277 KW. Looking at my FPL bill, that comes out to:

277 * .06841 = 18.94 (fuel)
277 * .05231 = 14.48 (non-fuel)

or a grand total of 33.42 EXTRA to my light bill for just the lighting. Am I missing anything in the calculation?

Thanks,

[charlie]

Looks about right to me, good luck.

[Poseidon]

Yup, that is about right. The only thing to keep in mind is the halides don't need to run for 12 hours a day. I run mine from 11:30 to 9:15, mostly so my corals are open when I get home from work, and then the lights go off at bedtime for the kids. I may delay the ON time even further, but I want to GROW these new frags out...

You can also see why I mentioned T5, if you can save a couple hundred watts of consumption and still get good PAR, you may save even more on the energy bill.

[Ninong]

Am I missing anything in the calculation?

Yes. Instead of the wattage of the metal halide lamps, you need to use the amount of wattage the ballasts draw. A typical 250w ballast will draw 315 watts. That means you need to jack up your calculations by about 25%.

[PJSea]

You could probably get away with 2 175W MH's instead of the 250's. It would save on electricity and cut down on heat.
The link you included is for a retrofit kit. I'm assuming you are installing it in a canopy.

[jkeithh1969]

On the 75 I had, I used 2 175 watt MH plus 4 110 watt VHOs...might have been overkill but my clams and my montis sure loved it.

[Poseidon]

Yes. Instead of the wattage of the metal halide lamps, you need to use the amount of wattage the ballasts draw. A typical 250w ballast will draw 315 watts. That means you need to jack up your calculations by about 25%.

Phew... I just checked the spec sheet on my icecap E ballast, it draws 255 watts.

Can you tell I am trying to reduce my power bill?

[jgb23]

I decided to go with a 2 175 MH, and 2 110 VHO for actinics. I am putting this into a canopy. I assume that living in Florida and having MH's that I am going to need some ventilation. How many fans, what size and location in canopy? Are these special fans, are they similar to the fans on PC's, what?

[jkeithh1969]

Living in Southeast Louisiana, I can definitely tell you that you will need some ventilation as I had mine in a canopy also and it definitely put out a lot of heat and you will have to watch evaporation too.

[jgb23]

Another thought. If I have fans blowing across the top of the water, I assume that I do not use glass covers. Is this true? Dont you run a risk of MH exploding if they get wet? How do you keep fish from jumping out?

[jkeithh1969]

I did not use glass covers with mine. My halides were well above the surface of the water so they never got splashed. My VHOs on the other hand were lower in the canopy and therefore closer to the surface and would get splashed every now and then but it never affected them.

[charlie]

If you have good endcaps on your vhos you won't have a problem. I have had haildes over my frag tank that weren't covered and didn't have a problem either, they were over 10" above the water.

[jkeithh1969]

Yeah my Halides were about 11" above the water and the VHOs are about 6" above the water.