newbie lighting

[Freckles]

Right now I am cycling my 125. I haven't decided if I want to go 'reef' or FOWLR. I really love the look of reef tanks, and am almost sure I will go reef. I plan on getting live rock once my tank is completely cycled. Hubby said it would be ok to get the halahide lighting if I want to go with corals. Soooo, my question is this; is it necessary to go with halahide lighting or can I go with PC's? Also, a question about halahide: could I go with 2 pendants for my 125, or would the full hoods be better? Right now, I just have a single 40 watt 50/50 coralife bulb. I am guessing this isn't good enough for even live rock, is it? :confused:

[JerryReef]

Which tank do you have the 72"x18"x22" or the 48"x24"x24" ?And, the next question is, what's your budget? I suppose you already have a hood, or don't you?

Figure the MH lamps would cover roughly an area of 2' x 2' from a height of about 8" to 9" from the waterline. Do you have a particular MH lamp in mind?

Jerry
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I don't know where I am going with this, but I am on my way....

[Freckles]

I have the 6 foot one....... As for budgeting goes, I am willing to spend $500 for halahide, but if I don't "have to have" halahide, and can go with PC's, then that is just as cool. As for hoods, are you talking about the canopy? I have a canopy, but at the moment I have it taken off because it is not fitting with my skimmer, but hubby thinks he can fix it.

[JerryReef]

For your size tank and based upon your budget I would suggest at the least 2-MH and 2-VHO Super Actinics.

Most reefers add actinic blue to improve the visual effects of their tanks. And, my mentor prefers that I do it all with one set of lights by simply buying bulbs with more blue.

I noticed that Atlantis Aquatic (http://atlantisaquatic.com/mhlamps.html) has a sale for the 6500K Iwasaki MH. Or you could also check out LampsNow (http://www.lampsnow.com)

Here are some interesting readings on Lighting (http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/lighting.htm)

Do a search on “lighting� (http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=85074&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) and you will get an idea of the general approach most favored by experienced reefers.

I have a 6 foot 180- gallon and I plan to have either 3 x 250watt 10000K HQI and eventually try out the 3 x 400watt 20000K Mogul Base Osram Radiums. I have already received the 3-250watt 10000K double-ended German Ushios, but they’re a little complicated to use.

Basically, lighting is a personal thing, as the effect can vary from viewer to viewer, 65000 – 67000 Kelvin would be the minimum, IMO, for each lamp (as far as the corals are concerned); and figure 2’ x 2’ coverage from each MH.

It would seem that you have a very kewl hubby :D

Have fun!
Jerry
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It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.

[ToddsReef]

I agree with JerryReef about the 2X2 and also about the "personal preference". If you get several reefers together and ask them to build the perfect lighting system for the same aquarium (and no two are the same) they would probably each design it a little different (or a lot :) ). I have had tanks with just vho's, just pc's and now I use 2X250W MH 10K ushios, two 110W VHO actinics, and two 7100 pc actinics (different than the "true actinic pc's which are more like vho in color).

There are certain things I liked about each system and all I can say for sure is that I definately liked just pc's better than just vho. As far as halides, it depends what type of corals you want to keep, most would agree (but certainly not all) that if you want to have a ton of SPS then you are probably better off with some type of halides, but for LPS and soft corals you will likely do just fine with pc's. Then you have to take into consideration the heat, the type of ballast, the temperature of the bulb (6500, 10K, etc), and how much you are willing to spend. One thing you will find with reefs is that you are always "upgrading", so this is my take: go for the PC's and if you decide you want the halides later you can always use the pc ballast and actinics for the "extra blue" that JerryReef was speaking of.

Apologize for being so verbous, in short, it's a complicated and expensive decision, think it through well and do a search on lighting above for many, many more opinions.

See ya,
Todd

Oh yeah, one more thing, I have used both www.lampsnow.com and marine depot and been pleased with both.

[piercho]

Premium Aquatics has a good discussion of lighting on their web pages dealing with same.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PA&Category_Code=Lighting

I have a shallow water biotope tank and use only a 6700K Iwasaki in a spiderlight reflector. Very efficient bulb, relatively inexpensive set-up. Does not give the "blue" glow most prefer.

[puff the magic fish]

My preferance is a full Metal Halide hood suplimented with a couple of actinics. This is the most expensive way to go, but IMO it looks the best and has enough light for all corals.

But the real question is, what do you prefer? As long as the intensity is strong enough, it doesnt matter too much what you put over the tank.

puff