Lighting For A 125 Gallon

[Joeyt66]

(just reserching for the futre) this is what i have 6 four foot bulbs 40 watts each 4 are aqua -glo and the other 2 not sure they say plant and aquarium on them. Would this be alright for corals? or do i need different fixtures (they are shop lights) or just different bulbs. I am a newbie and unclear as too what i need so im doin a lil research here thanks.

 

[J-Money]

you will need metal halides probably. My tank is 2' deep as well and I tried keeping a few "easy" corals for a bit with 2 highpowered florecent bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs but they lost their strength pretty quick and my corals died. i've decided to go FOWLR only until i either: a) get a shollower tank or B) get PC or Halides...

 

[Fish Fingers]

For a 2' deep tank you'd want at least a 250w metal halide if you wanted to keep hard corals and clams but if you wanted softies a 150w would be ok. You'd want a metal halide for every 60cm of tank so that would mean you'd need to get 3 of them for a 6' tank.

 

[Joeyt66]

For a 2' deep tank you'd want at least a 250w metal halide if you wanted to keep hard corals and clams but if you wanted softies a 150w would be ok. You'd want a metal halide for every 60cm of tank so that would mean you'd need to get 3 of them for a 6' tank.

The guy at my LFS said i could use the 4 ft florecent lights but would need different tubes. He suggested 40 watt marine glo or power-glo. Anyone have expierence with these which is the best.
I think i will go with the soft corals for now(when running) and then maybe add later if i want to go another route. Ican get 20% today only on these bulbs so please reply fast thanks

 

[Opcn]

you would need more bulbs and more fixtures, if you want to go florescent you should get a custom built hood and paint the inside bright white and toss in as many flourescent sockets as you can fit in there and then add flourescent tubes from your lfs, plant tubes won't work and will encorage algea growth.

as for balasts I'm not sure which type you want, I don't know much about balasts.

 

[Aquascaper]

Take a look on the web and you'll find cheap 400w Metal Halides (commonly known as AquaBay or LowBay), two of these would suffice with 10k bulbs. A couple of actinic tubes would help bring out colours during lights on and achieve a moonlight effect when starting and finishing your lighting cycle.

My 400w halide cost £50 and the bulb was about £35

 

[andyk]

Take a look on the web and you'll find cheap 400w Metal Halides (commonly known as AquaBay or LowBay), two of these would suffice with 10k bulbs. A couple of actinic tubes would help bring out colours during lights on and achieve a moonlight effect when starting and finishing your lighting cycle.

My 400w halide cost £50 and the bulb was about £35

hi...
am just setting up a 5 ft reef tank and have been looking for cheap halides.....what bulb would i need for the halide you have suggested
cheers andy

 

[macpegg]

i have 4 t8 6ft florecent tubes. 2 tritons, a marine white and an actinic, and a twin set of t5`s. I only just have me softies surviving on that. halides are the way forward