Reef optix or luminarcs???

[rommelgin]

need help deciding on lighting. would like to run 2 250w mh but cant decide on reflectors. what would you all recommend to light 60''x24''x24 tank. want to keep a mixed reef with softies and lps on bottom and middle and eventually try sps on top later.

[rommelgin]

posted in the lighting forum but wanted to get an idea on what the locals got going on. Thanks!

[Elite]

3x LIII Mini
2x T5 or VHO for actinic.

[sfsuphysics]

lumenarcs, 2 across the top should be fine.

[Sparkss]

I agree with Mike, 2 LAIIIs are all you need.

Reef Optix are from a company (Sunlight Supply) that, for many reasons, I do my best never to do business with. The RO I is a knock off of the Luminarc, IIRC. The RO III is a DE reflector. Do yourself a favor and just buy a Luminarc.. they are local, great guys to deal with and on top of all of that, IMO it is a superior product to the Sunlight Supply reflectors.

[rommelgin]

thanks for the info guys! i was leaning towards the reefoptix at first but did some more research on the luminarcs and it looks like im headed that route after all. seems to be far superior quality just from the look of the reflectors. on top of that, i like to support local business. now when you guys say 2 will be good, are you talking about the regular LIII or the minis? Ive also heard DE give higher par than SE. i really like the look of those new bulbs, i think it was aquascape by iwasaki i think.

[Sparkss]

LAs have a DE version (think it is a version of their mini). We ran a single LA III Mini over our 3' square prop tank and got good enough coverage, so I would say that you can get away with 2 minis, but would likely be better served with 2 full sized LA IIIs. We run 2 LA IIIs over our 6.5' X 4' X 2' tank and get some light fall off at the edges and back and just populate those areas with LPS and other low light corals (birdsnest, etc). For your size tank you should get great coverage. You could likely look into using the 175W Iwasaki SE bulbs, but I haven't read the numbers on the new aquascape bulbs yet, so I don't know how the 2 compare .

[rommelgin]

Thanks alot Sparkss! How high should the lights be from the top of the tank? original plan was to have an open top with the light hangin from the ceiling or some type of bracket incorporated with the stand but then i started to mess around with a canopy and like the look of it so im not sure which way to go as far as that yet so id like to know how high in case i build a canopy.

[Elite]

The regular LIII is 24.5x24.5x7.5. You tank is only 24W. You won't be able to install the T5 or VHO light if you want.

The LIII mini is 14.5x14.5. I'm sure you will get some very low light spot on a 60" long tank.

[Sparkss]

Originally posted by Elite
The regular LIII is 24.5x24.5x7.5. You tank is only 24W. You won't be able to install the T5 or VHO light if you want.

The LIII mini is 14.5x14.5. I'm sure you will get some very low light spot on a 60" long tank.

Here is from the PGS web site for full sized LA IIIs:

The hood dimensions are 19.5” x 19.5” x 8.5” tall.

As for low light spots, it really all depends on the bulb/ballast chosen. The accepted average light spread on an LA III (full) is 30". That is considered "usable" light. I would check Sanjay's articles on the reflector (labelled for his testing as Diamond reflectors) I would say that depending on the bulb you use. If you use 20k bulbs on electronic ballasts, then no reflector is going to give you good spread. I use Sanjay's lighting web site to pick a bulb and ballast combo, but it already sounds like you have one selected. What is the rate PPFD for that bulb (with the ballast you intend to use) ?

We had our 10k 250W bulbs on an HQI ballast in LA IIIs 9.5"+ from the bottom of the reflector to the top of the water. We recently upgraded to 400w 14k bulbs on IC electronic ballsts, which dropped our PPFD 40 or so points, but increased our CCT by almost 5k, so it gave us alot more blue and was worth the drop in PAR for us. The wattage draw was the same between the two configurations. I know that this does not 100% translate over to your tank and setup, but hopefully it will help at least a little.

[Elite]

Oh.. I always thought it's 24.5x24.5 for some reason .. Weird ..
Thanks for the correction Tom.

[bookfish]

I also would go with 2, full size Lumenarcs. I'll be doing this w/ 2x250w XM 20k's on my new 6' tank and I expect some dead spots at the ends/ center but I can live with that. On a 5' tank you'd get good, full coverage IMO.-Jim

[rommelgin]

Originally posted by Sparkss
Here is from the PGS web site for full sized LA IIIs:

The hood dimensions are 19.5” x 19.5” x 8.5” tall.

As for low light spots, it really all depends on the bulb/ballast chosen. The accepted average light spread on an LA III (full) is 30". That is considered "usable" light. I would check Sanjay's articles on the reflector (labelled for his testing as Diamond reflectors) I would say that depending on the bulb you use. If you use 20k bulbs on electronic ballasts, then no reflector is going to give you good spread. I use Sanjay's lighting web site to pick a bulb and ballast combo, but it already sounds like you have one selected. What is the rate PPFD for that bulb (with the ballast you intend to use) ?

We had our 10k 250W bulbs on an HQI ballast in LA IIIs 9.5"+ from the bottom of the reflector to the top of the water. We recently upgraded to 400w 14k bulbs on IC electronic ballsts, which dropped our PPFD 40 or so points, but increased our CCT by almost 5k, so it gave us alot more blue and was worth the drop in PAR for us. The wattage draw was the same between the two configurations. I know that this does not 100% translate over to your tank and setup, but hopefully it will help at least a little.

Not too sure on PPFD rate on the bulbs i mentioned but i did plan on using 250w IC electronic ballast with 14k bulbs. I may be mis reading what you posted about havin the same wattage draw between the 2 configuration. you are talking about the 250w and the 400w right? how is that? sorry, first time getting into halides so i have alot of questions. oh yeah, do you guys happen to have the webpage for luminarc? i found it last night but i cant seem to pull it up here at work...

[rommelgin]

Originally posted by bookfish
I also would go with 2, full size Lumenarcs. I'll be doing this w/ 2x250w XM 20k's on my new 6' tank and I expect some dead spots at the ends/ center but I can live with that. On a 5' tank you'd get good, full coverage IMO.-Jim

Thanks for the info Jim. what ballast will you be running if you dont mind me asking?

[bookfish]

Not sure yet. I only have 1 250w blueline at the moment.

[Sparkss]

Originally posted by rommelgin
Not too sure on PPFD rate on the bulbs i mentioned but i did plan on using 250w IC electronic ballast with 14k bulbs. I may be mis reading what you posted about havin the same wattage draw between the 2 configuration. you are talking about the 250w and the 400w right? how is that? sorry, first time getting into halides so i have alot of questions. oh yeah, do you guys happen to have the webpage for luminarc? i found it last night but i cant seem to pull it up here at work...

Yes, the 2 configurations had roughly the same wattage draw. 250W HQI and 400W IC electronic.

And here is the PGS web page for the LAIIIs :

http://lumenarclighting.com/proddetail.asp?prod=L3

[Sparkss]

Originally posted by bookfish
Not sure yet. I only have 1 250w blueline at the moment.

Jim, how deep is your tank ? 20k XM on electronic ballasts don't have very much par...how high do you plan to keep your reflectors and what sorts of corals will you have ?

[bookfish]

Originally posted by Sparkss
Jim, how deep is your tank ? 20k XM on electronic ballasts don't have very much par...how high do you plan to keep your reflectors and what sorts of corals will you have ?

My new tank will be 72"X24"X20" and will prob run at around 19" deep.
I know I'll have a lot of dimmer areas but I like that effect. It'll be a LPS/SPS tank (prob 70% LPS)
I generally hang my Lumenarcs so the bulbs are 15"-20" above the water. No coverglass on either the light fixture or the tank. You should visit once I get the new tank installed. It's going to be a full length, horizontal, penducted gyre.

[myzona]

It's mine 72x18x20 3x150MH 14K, 2x96 PC 10K, 2x96 Actinics

[rommelgin]

nice tank!

[myzona]

thanks

[TikiDan]

I went with 3 LA minis just because the Braces across the top of my AGA seperate the tank into 3 parts. With 2 reflectors, the light would shine through the brace and leave a big dark line in the tank where the light was blocked. It just lookd kinda funny.

[rommelgin]

Originally posted by TikiDan
I went with 3 LA minis just because the Braces across the top of my AGA seperate the tank into 3 parts. With 2 reflectors, the light would shine through the brace and leave a big dark line in the tank where the light was blocked. It just lookd kinda funny.

makes sense, the shadow that the braces create just really bothers me too. reason i went euro brace! im thinking of going with the minis since my rock work will be caves on the ends and 2 main pillars, where i can place high light corals near the center so i can have the reflectors directly over the pillars. but still debating in wheteher the full LIII will be better.

[TikiDan]

Euro bracing is cheating!

[janakaybravo]

I have a 4 x 2 x 2 120 gallon. I'm also debating on going with the LA III's or the mini's. I have mostly sps. What do you think? I'm going to use 12K Reeflux hanging over the tank with no blue supplementation, no canopy. Trying to decide. Would it be overkill to get the L III's? I might add that I have two 250 watt PFO ballasts that I plan to use. Would those be okay? They are magnetic. I could sell them and get electronic but really have no idea what to get.