Lighting Question from newbie

[93zm6tally]

Guys,

I'm in the process of planning a Reef Tank. I have a 100 Gallon Tank that is 60" inches long. I'm in the process of planning and then building a canopy and have been looking at either using one of the retrofit kits and using either PC or T5 lighting. Problem is most of the fixtures seem to be in increments of 36", 48" and 72". Would it be O.K to use a single 48" fixture, or would I be better off using a couple of 36" fixtures and "staggering" them. I don't want to us MH because of the heat. In case I didn't make it clear, I'm planning on mounting the lights inside the canopy

Also any recommendations on brand names would also be helpful.
BTW the kits are very cheap, not! Not much to do with this hobby seems cheap. Oh well, "Fun ain't cheap"

Thanks in advance.

[Poseidon]

Hi!!

As for your lighting, I would do either the 48" T5, or the 60" T5 bulbs with individual reflectors. You can get a retrofit kit, like the one I use over my 90 gallon tank, from several of our sponsors.

I have a total of 5 bulbs, 4 of them are overdriven, and the 5th is just for dawn to dusk effect. With a setup such as mine, you can keep whatever corals you choose, even clams on the sandbed. Please give us a few more details on what it is you are planning....

-Mike

[93zm6tally]

Mike,

Thank you for the reply and the welcome. I just got a 100 Gallon Tank, 60"x20x20. I have a wet dry filtration system. The tank isn't set up yet as I'm in the process of refinishing the base to better match my decor, and I want to build a canopy for it as well. Right now as far as lighting I have nothing but a couple NO Fluorescent bulbs that sit on top of a glass cover that I'll eventually get rid of.

I'm planning on starting the tank with about 100lbs of live rock and a couple of the hardier species of fish. Once things get going I plan to add a protein skimmer. I'm trying to build the canopy so that later on I can add whatever lighting I need to support live coral. I don't know exactly what species I'm going to get, but I'm looking to install a light system that would support just about any type of reef plants that I'd like.

All of the lighting recommendations that I've seen appear to based upon the wattage per gallon rules. I've seen a number of references in this forum saying that type of thinking is "old school"; however I haven't seen any other information, other than some spectral analysis, that at least for me doesn't relate very well to designing "real world" systems.

I'm planning on moving slow, trying to be patient, but I do want to at least have enough of a plan so that I can hopefully make prudent choices.

Again I really appreciate the reply.

Mark.

[Poseidon]

Throw out the watts per gallon... it fails miserably as it does not take into account the shape of your tank.

Here are few "guidelines" that I have learned from my own experience:

250W Halides are GREAT for growing just about anything you want to keep. They cover an area of 2x2' and down to a depth of about 2'. I used mine in "spider reflectors" and kept the bulb 8" off the water. This means you canopy will need to be 12" tall at least. I used 10K bulbs by several different companies, XM was my favorite. With a 10K bulb you may want to supplement actinic via VHO or T5.

T5- I found that a 4ft T5 retro fit kit with individual reflectors and driven on an IceCap 660 with these bulbs, GE 6.5K, Geismann Actinic Plus, Aquablue +, True Actinic, to actually have MORE PAR then my halides did. I believe on a tank 24" deep or less that T5 is the BEST choice, as it consumes less wattage, and gives equal if not greater lumens than halides. This set up will also allow you to keep whatever you want coral and clam wise. These bulbs are kept a mere 3" off the water, so the canopy can be much shorter in overall height.

I keep an SPS dominant reef myself, and I keep corals that others say demand halides.... I did not find that to be true, for me, T5 is the way to go at this point, until either LED or PLASMA bulbs come down in price.