2 x 400 watt in my 75gal

kjord97 · #1 05/29/2007, 01:12 PM

Well after looking at my buddies 90 gal on Friday, my mind went crazy and we now have a new 75 gal. I took the turtles out and put them in the pond, and took apart the 29 gal and 48 gal bow front. Combined them both into the 75. Took us all morning on Monday but it looks great. My wife did a great job aqua scapeing the tank. I bought some MH fixtures from my buddy. and I am in the works of building a canopy. I will have pics up later this evening of the new setup.

So what does everyone think of putting 2 x 400 watt 14 k bulbs on top of a 75 gal?? A lot of the corals at LPS. Buddy's 90 gal tank looks awesome with the 2 x 400 MH bulbs on top of his. He also has 2 x 36" T-5's on his, but i am not doing that.

jrmx635 · #2 05/29/2007, 08:01 PM

I run two 400 10k's on my 75.
looks awesome,coral grow fast but hot as heck.
needed to add fans and still hits 86 degrees.
kinda wish I got 250's

chrisqueenz · #3 05/30/2007, 05:42 PM

Thinking about adding 2 400w on my 90g.. But would like to see how it looks or hear opinions from someone who has it set up already..

Justin James · #4 05/30/2007, 05:51 PM

You would have to have extream air flow to remove the heat. Two fans in each end of the canopy and put a big desk fan over the sump to help cool the water unless you want to buy a chiller.

TwistedTiger · #5 05/30/2007, 05:52 PM

I just put 2X250w bulbs in Luminarc pendants on my 75 and wow talk about plenty of light. I too thought about going 400w but after reading Sanjays articles on how much luminarcs do for your lighting I decided the 250's were enough and I'm very glad I didn't go with the 400's. My tank is only 20 inches deep but the light reaching the sandbed is incredible. Also the coverage front to back and side to side is great. It may cost a little more but IMO appears very much worth going with quality reflectors to get better light on your reef and having less heat and energy consumption.

chrisqueenz · #6 05/30/2007, 05:54 PM

Do you have pics of the set-up? I really want to do the 250's but I already have the 400.... Do you have anything else on there beside the 250's?

Justin James · #7 05/30/2007, 05:55 PM

I run two Luminarc lll mini DE 250 watt pendents over my 150 gallon and the light reaches the center without the third middle bulb believe it or not.

Go with the Luminarc lll's you'll have more even coverage than your buddy with the 400 watt bulbs.

TwistedTiger · #8 05/30/2007, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisqueenz
Do you have pics of the set-up? I really want to do the 250's but I already have the 400.... Do you have anything else on there beside the 250's?

I don't have pics but can take some, however don't get reeled in by pics. Pics of the exact same system taken with different cameras can look entirely different. Pictures are a very inaccurate way to judge lighting IMO.

I do not run any other lighting just the 2X 250 10k reeflux.

Justin James · #9 05/30/2007, 06:01 PM

Here are some photos of my setup with the luminarc's. I have no other bulbs besides the two 250 watt DE 13,000K bulbs in my luminarcs and i'm very happy with it. I still don't have much corals since this tank is fairly new.

This photo is without the flash and shows the true power of the lights.

These photos are with the flash.

chrisqueenz · #10 05/30/2007, 06:09 PM

That looks awesome, I am impressed that both 250's do a good job covering the 150!

dhnguyen · #11 05/30/2007, 06:44 PM

2X400w over a 75G That's insanely too much light. Waste of light and waste of electricity if you ask me. Not to mention the heat and photoinhibition you will cause your corals.

You might want to consider 2X250W instead. Maybe even 2X150W with decent reflectors.

2crazyreefers · #12 05/30/2007, 08:02 PM

What bulbs and ballast are you using ?

TwistedTiger · #13 05/30/2007, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 2crazyreefers
What bulbs and ballast are you using ?

I'm using Reeflux 10k's on Coralvue electronic ballasts.

BeanAnimal · #14 05/30/2007, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dhnguyen
2X400w over a 75G That's insanely too much light. Waste of light and waste of electricity if you ask me. Not to mention the heat and photoinhibition you will cause your corals.

You might want to consider 2X250W instead. Maybe even 2X150W with decent reflectors.

I agree 400W is extreme overkill for a 75G tank.

jrmx635 · #15 05/30/2007, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dhnguyen
2X400w over a 75G That's insanely too much light. Waste of light and waste of electricity if you ask me. Not to mention the heat and photoinhibition you will cause your corals.

You might want to consider 2X250W instead. Maybe even 2X150W with decent reflectors.

it's the best growth I've ever gotton on coral.
It's not a waste of electricity when I love it.
I run 10k ushio 400's and actinic t-5,and my tank looks just like when I went to hawaii.That was what made my decision to go to 400's
I have had so many tanks and all kinds of lighting.
I have read so much about reefs that to run 400's on a 75 is not even close to insane,nor a waste.It's preference.
But my opinion on this forum is for him to run 250's.
I run 400's but planned for it.
Please don't call my setup insane or wasteful.
Alot of experience and thought went into it.

Giovanni · #16 05/30/2007, 09:51 PM

I am in the process of doing almost the same thing. I have an oceanic 70RR. I feel it is preference also. I want to run 20k bulbs and feel that the 250s in 20k do not put out enough par. If I am getting a little more par than I want, I will cut back on the photoperiod.

mcurl98 · #17 05/30/2007, 10:46 PM

Justin- Really like your hanging canopy. Am in the process of building a new canopy. Does yours move out of the way somehow to do tank maintenance?

I agree with Giovanni-It really depends on the PAR output on the bulb/ballast combo being considered.

dhnguyen · #18 05/31/2007, 10:34 AM

There is such a thing as photo saturation and photoinhibition. You guys might want to have a bit of light reading

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

I for one can vouch from my experience that my SPS actually grew faster under less light (assuming water quailty is good and sufficient flow is provided)

Too much light is well... Still too much light. But like others have stated before to each his own.

Giovanni · #19 05/31/2007, 12:36 PM

As someone with a biology background (bachelors degrees in biology and chemistry) having read and critiqued my share of scientific literature in the process, I read first article as irrelevant to this discussion of light. We are able to create more flow than beneficial in our tanks. Too much flow and you start to have algae grow on the coral. You need enough flow to bring nutrient to the corals and remove the products of respiration and photosynthesis away. Most of us have got that covered.

The second article "Too Much Light!" (July 2004) By Dana Riddle, reads like he set out to prove ways there could be too much light and not as if he took the approach of discovering the optimal light levels for our corals. Sure I agree that every sp. of coral has its light saturation point with reguard to optimal growth and color. Sure every coral sp. is different in response to par and color temp. I would even dare say that there is variation between colonies of the same sp. grown under different conditions.

We are all scientist in some way. We keep our little boxes of reefs and experiment with different parameters. Depending on what sp we keep, how we feed them, light them, what flow we give them and how appropriate the water chemistry is determines how well they thrive. We buy new equipment with the hope it will make things "better." If it doesn't we sell it to someone with a setup who may or may not be more appropriate than our for its use. This is how we learn.

The way in which we share the knowledge gained in our little experiments is what sets us apart. Some are offended when someone else wants to try a method they think will not work and it show with the tone of their post. Within limits, it is impossible for anyone to tell me this or that will not work unless you have tried my exact setup for the exact sp. of animals I keep. We should all try to keep our emotions out of the post as this will be more conducive to getting our point and knowledge across.

My setup:
I currently have PFO minis with 250watt 14K ushios. I want to change to Lumenarc III Minis (LIIIM) as the give a more even distribution of light. My corals have spots on the dark side that are dull in color and I feel a more even and wider distribution of light will help. Currently I have the best growth and color where the light is most intense directly under the light 3-4 inches below the water surface. I anticipate that spreading the PAR out over a wider area with the LIIIM will have a negative affect on color and growth. Same PAR more square inches. The only way I can see to negate that effect is to go with a higher PAR bulb.

I like the deep water look of 20K bulbs so that works out good. More PAR than a 14K 250 but less PAR than a 14K400. I can always decrease my photo period if needed. As far as that goes I can even tilt the 2 reflectors towards the center and have staggered lighting periods to further reduce PAR if needed.

Results to follow over the next six months. Should I start a thread to track the progress?

stony_corals · #20 05/31/2007, 02:44 PM

Justin James, how did you mount the Lumenarcs in your hood? Was it with the simgle screwn in the top of the reflector? Looks great!

Justin James · #21 05/31/2007, 03:41 PM

Thanks for the compliments on my lighting. I love the Luminarcs. I just adjust the chains to lift the canopy out of the way to get access to the tank. I have them mounted in with the two eyehooks on the top of them. I cut two holes in the top of my canopy for the eyehooks to poke threw and then I slid a rod threw the holes so they couldn't fall back down threw so the lights are suspended from the top sheet of oak on the canopy but it's ok because they arn't heavy.

dhnguyen · #22 05/31/2007, 04:18 PM

Hmm must be me but I didn't see anything in what I stated was offending nor coming off as being offended.
Have we become such over sensitive PC mongers that words as "insane" or "waste" are now considered words of insult?

For the record I never said using 2X400W over a 75g wouldn't work. Just that it's not energy efficient nor required.

BTW jrmx635, I wasn't even responding to your post when I commented that I thought 2X400W were too much for a 75g. It was actually in response to the original poster of this thread.

Calm down people... Walk away from the computer for a bit, it will do you good.

jnarowe · #23 05/31/2007, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jrmx635
I run two 400 10k's on my 75.
looks awesome,coral grow fast but hot as heck.
needed to add fans and still hits 86 degrees.
kinda wish I got 250's

and...

Quote:

I run 400's but planned for it.
Please don't call my setup insane or wasteful.
Alot of experience and thought went into it.

So which is it?

I think 2 x 400W might be overkill for a 75g too but it all depends on what your reefkeeping goals are. I seriously panic if my tank got to 86F though.

I use 1000W 20K Ushios on my tank!

BeanAnimal · #24 05/31/2007, 04:58 PM

Quote:

m must be me but I didn't see anything in what I stated was offending nor coming off as being offended.
Have we become such over sensitive PC mongers that words as "insane" or "waste" are now considered words of insult?

A daily occurance anymore. People going out of their way to be offended. The best part is when they end up being the party that actually does get nasty and start offending people.

Gotta love PC and victimhood.

jnarowe · #25 05/31/2007, 05:17 PM

Hey BA! Can you believe my Alita 100 that got totally filled with SW months ago is still running? Cool huh?