Another Lighting Question But Simple!

[orange shark]

Hey,

What lighting would i need for fish and corals? The only light types i know are t5 and metal halide

orange shark

 

[SkiFletch]

Pffft simple? Dream on

What size tank? (dimensions)
Any center braces over the top?
What kind of corals (softies, LPS, SPS, mix)?
Any anemones?

 

[orange shark]

I havent even got a tank yet im just doin my research! i was just checkin, i'll probably have a mix

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol well ok I'll list the common types of lighting for corals then...

PC - Power Compact lighting is the cheapest form out there. PCs do well in nano tanks or shallow tanks where water depth doesn't get much more than 12". Their shortcomings are poorly designed reflectors leading to a lot of wasted light. Benefit, cheap and smiple.

T5 - 5/8" diameter single flourescent tubes. Depending on the number of tubes used, T5s can light anything from softies, through delicate light-hungry SPS, clams, and nems. Their reflectors are efficient (especially models with individual reflectors for each tube) and the high output versions get great light penetration even in deeper tanks. Benefits are high-power and very modular. Downside is cost, they're prolly the most expensive option to setup

MH - Metal Halides are a very high-powered option out there. They get great light penetration at depth and excel at providing energy for high-light specemins. Benefits include simple design/construction, low number of tubes, affordable setup (if you're even remotely DIY competent), and modern electronic bulbs/ballasts are very energy efficient. Downside is heat. Fans are almoast required to keep them cool.

 

[orange shark]

which one would/do you use?

 

[Musho3210]

T5 and MH produce the same heat watt for watt, just the MH has all the heat concentrated in one spot (the bulb) and the T5 heat is spread out throughout the whole bulb.

I like MH for the shimmer effect that it gives. But i would use BOTH MH and T5 lighting.

 

[orange shark]

could you put 1 of each in one of those lighting units that hangs over the tank?

 

[Deep Freeze]

Will you be incorporating a canopy? If so, than you can retro-fit it with your preffered lighting system if you are able to do a little DIY.

 

[SkiFletch]

Will you be incorporating a canopy? If so, than you can retro-fit it with your preffered lighting system if you are able to do a little DIY.

Amen to that. You can also buy combination overhaid luminaires but they tend to be costly... I personally use 2x175 watt metal halides over my 65g tank. Had I enough room I'd add a T5 or two to the mix, but the halides and fans take up almoast all the usable space inside the hood so its all them

 

[stang1]

Sorry to hijack the thread but this has ben puzzling me also.
We are planning on buying a Luminaire T5 60" 4 lamp unit for our 5ft tank and was wondering if this would be suitable. We plan on having corals but didn't know if we would be restricted to certain ones. Also, would this unit be quite expensive to run?
Thanks,
Angie

 

[SkiFletch]

Stang1, does the fixture use high output (HO) lamps or normal output ones? HOs are 54watts each and NOs are I believe 40 watts each. Or note the total wattage, a 4xHO would be 220watts and a 4xNO would be 180 watts. Either way the T5s really dont use that much energy. If you take the 220watt fixture, say you run it for 10 hours a day. That's 2200 watt hours per day, and 66000 watt hours per month roughly. Otherwise known as 66 kilowatt hours per month. Then all you do is multiply 66 kilowatt hours times the kilowatt hour rate your electrical company charges and find the cost to power it.

If all that confuses you, that fixture itself would use less energy than say a modern bigscreen TV, and less energy than it costs to run your washer and dishwasher per month that's for sure.

If the luminaire does NOT have individual reflectors for each bulb, I'd stick to softies and LPS. If you do have individual reflectors for the tubes then you can consider adding clams or SPS near the top of the rock stack.

 

[rictheredneck]

nice post simple and to the point!

 

[stang1]

Thanks Ski, very informative as always!
I'm not sure whether the model has individual reflectors or not, I need to order one from work.
We are only really planning on keeping soft corals as we love the look of them. I'll have to have a google and find out about the reflectors.
Thanks again.

 

[Musho3210]

without individual reflectors they are pretty much as good as PC lights since they will waste lights the same way PC's will.