Lights For My 180 Gal Tank , Please !

[robbhp]

ok i have asked about lighting before, but i would just like to know what you lot are running, my tank has changed a bit in size now, it is now 6 foot long by 2 by 2 , giving a total of 180 us gal,(comming the 21st ) the only problem is what lights to run, i was going to use t5 compact's and lots of them( after chac told me of a great place many thanks) 6 in total and all 6 would be 55w giving a total amount of power of 330 watts of power, netting down to close on 2 wattts to every us gal. well as i have no idea of how bright that is could some one post pics of there tank, does not matter what size tank ,just as long as you tell me how many gals are in the tank (US) and what type of lights you have IE, MH, T5 compact, normal T5, or T8's. many thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, I'm in the process of re-designing my lighting system right now and here's what I'm doing. A single 175watt Icecap electronic MH ballast powering an XM 20k bulb. In addition I'm going to run 2x96watt Power Compact lighting both tubes actinic (I really like the blue shades ). My tank is 3x1x2' in dimensions. I've seen people in my local club with a 6x2x2 who use 2 400watt halides and 2 VHO actinics on their SPS tanks. They admit its probably overkill but they love the look. A more popular option seems to be 2x250watt MH with 2 actinic supplimentation for most mixed tanks. I do know one guy who uses 8 T5s (4 actinic, 2 10k, and 2 6700) on his mixed tank, also on a 180. If it were my tank, I'd use 2x250MH with 2xflourescent something (T5, PC, VHO) for actinics.

 

[robbhp]

with all the other costs at the moment, i dont think i could buy the MH's, do you think the 6 55W t5 PC will be any good, or do you just think i should go for normal T5. one more thing this will not be a reef tank, only fish, now i know it doesn't matter what light you have for fish only but i do want that "bright look" to the tank.
the tank is costing a mint at the moment, soooooooooooooooooo much money, so i want it to look very good when it is done. if you know what in mean.

also is it posable to convert a flood light, in to a fish tank MH , buy replacing the bulb with somthing a bit better. i know this is the cheap way of doing it, but i have already spent over what i wanted to spend on this tank

 

[SkiFletch]

Get some ice, a scalpel, and an ebay account to sell your kidney

Seriously though, if you're not keeping corals (sorry, I just assumed ) you can look into T5 or honestly even a few T8 tubes will still provide that bright look. Halogen lamps are a completely different beast than metal halides and you cannot just drop a double-ended MH bulb into a halogen fixture. You need to add a ballast to run the MH. You can use the reflectors for a halogen bulb and retrofit a ballast and a MH bulb in there, but its time consuming and still expensive. Prolly better off going for T8's

 

[robbhp]

ok many thanks, i think i will go with T5, think it will be the arcadia I bar. hope this does the job, and if it dont then i will have to by some more many thanks

 

[k100 trike]

i have the same size tank and i run that on three mh 150w home made lamps i used some large halogen housings and fitted mh bulb holders as these are different to halogen fittings and connected these to remote ballasts etc these are running 14k bulbs and my corals are all doing fine