40 Gallon Reef Lighting Questions... PLZ look!!

[TYoung]

Hello all,

I am in the process of planning a 40g reef tank. I have decided on a 40g breeder tank dimensions are 36*18*16 and it will contain an assortment of LPS corals. For the most part I have ruled out Metal Halide Lighting because it will more likely provide more light than I need for LPS corals and they also run very hot. With that said I have narrowed it down to a T5 lighting system or a LED lighting system. I would like to go with LED for energy efficiency but I am a little skeptical on running an LED system because they are relatively new. It would be good to get some feedback on what you experts are using for lighting in your 40g or similar size LPS reef tanks. Thanks

[TYoung]

I should also add that I want my tank to have an overall florescent look when on so if I were to go with T5 lighting I would want to run at least 2 Actinic Florescent tubes. I am not sure if LED lighting systems offer a florescent accented look or not.

[Original Fin]

I don't have any practical experience with metal halides, but if I was going to do a shallow breeder tank, I wouldn't completely rule them out because you should be able to use one or two of the lower power ones...75-150 watts. They don't produce as much heat as the bigger ones, and you'd get that nice shimmer effect.

Nice thing about breeders is your lighting options are wide open. You could do a 2-4 bulb T5 or even LED for relatively short money. Check out the new PAR38 flood lamp style LED's too.

[TYoung]

Thanks for the response. I guess I didn't think about using a lower wattage metal halide system, idk how but thats a good idea. I looked into LED a bit more and it seems like I got a lot to learn about the technology before what to do.

Do you know if you can program a automatic dimmer for down/dusk affects with metal halide and T5 lighting or is it only LED.

Thanks!

[Original Fin]

Neither T5 nor MH are dimmable, but a lot of people like to supplement MH with one or two PC or T5 actinic bulbs for that purpose. You time the actinics to come be on an hour longer on each end of your photoperiod, so actinics for 12 hrs, and MH for 10. It's a gentler way to wake the tank up. It also helps if you have some LED moonlighting...that doesn't have to be fancy or expensive though.

Although LED is capable of being dimmable, most of the fixtures out there now are not...that's an expensive option because it requires a much more complicated powersupply/driver. For most people, the cost to benefit ratio of doing that just isn't there yet, but with time it will be. This is still a fairly new technology as it pertains to the hobby.
I just joined a reef club, and the next event ( Northern Valley Reefers-Feb 26 in Salida, CA) is going to be a DIY workshop for LEDS. We will all build a simple/small linear strip under the guidance of an experienced member and RapidLED.com. The builds will be raffled off at the end. Non members are welcomed, no admission fee, so for those in the area that may be interested, feel free to contact me for more details.

[TYoung]

Awesome thanks for the advice. I live in Minnesota so it would be a bit of a hike to make it out there. I think I am going to go with a T5 lighting fixture, because it is quite a bit cheaper than LED's. This is the fixture I am looking at.

Odyssea T5 High Output Lighting

Do you think I am looking at a good fixture for both quality of product and performance? Not sure if it will prove enough light for 40g LPS reef tank, even though they require less light than SPS corals.

[Original Fin]

I don't know anything about that brand, but seems a little too good to be true. Did you read the testimonials? That one guy wasn't very happy.

Check out the Current USA Nova line...these are good middle of the road fixtures that everyone seems to like.

Current USA Nova Extreme T5HO

[Original Fin]

Oh, and a 4 bulb T5 should be plenty for most LPS in that tank...probably could even do some SPS.

[TYoung]

Thanks for the feedback. I checked out the
Current USA Nova Extreme T5HO
and they looked good and had really good recommendations, the only thing is that they are a little expensive compared to the Odyssea ones.

I took your advice and looked into some MH lighting and found a system that would work I think, I would just replace the Halide bulb from a 250W to a 150W, so it would be more feasible in a 40g . I posted the links below if you wanna check them out.

Odyssea Metal Halide System
Aquarium Lightings - Odyssea Double Ended Metal Halide Bulb

Let me know what you think

[Chasman]

TYoung

This is solely my opinion, but I wouldn't go super cheap on the lights. A 36" Nova is not a high end light fixture at $240. So it makes me wonder just how reliable an $80 fixture would be. The high end ATI 36" is just under $800 with the lamps.

Keep in mind these things are on 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Chasman

[TYoung]

Ya thats one of the reasons I started a thread. I was suggested to buy Odyssea lighting from aquatraders.com from my local aquatic store. I have heard very good things from Odyssea and very bad things from them. At this point my lighting option is way up in the air, but like everybody I am trying to save money.

If anybody has any experience with Odyssea lighting I would love to hear what you have to say.