Lighting options

[Spaced Cowboy]

Coming from a 50G freshwater tank to a 125G 72x18x22 reef tank

Lighting, Oh lighting, you do test me so...

What I'm trying to get my head around is why some lights are so expensive, and some (seemingly comparable) lights are so cheap. I'm sure there's a "you get what you pay for" in there somewhere, but I'm not seeing it :( Help!

Looking at the DRsFoster&Smith catalogue (p88 if you have it :-), there's a 10W (same as a 50W fluorescent) coralife 50/50 (10000K, actinic) for ~$8. On a 125G tank, I ought to have 3-5W/gallon, right ? And mine is only 22" tall, so let's say 4. That makes it ~500W or 10 bulbs, for a total of ~$80 + price of a canopy of ~$195 (http://stores.ebay.com/Dayton-Cabinets) comes to a grand total of $275.

On the next page, there are 72" canopy-plus-lighting options with 576W of lighting for $780...
Even taking into account the extra bulb (making it ~$450 above), that's a big mark-up. So, what am I missing ?

I'm not afraid of a bit of wiring-up of bulbs, and these don't need any ballast (they're standard fitting), so do they just not work or something ?

Using the LFS, it came to ~$1000 for 2x 36" fixture, though that did have these 'moonlight' things on as well. Presumably I can add those later if I go my DIY route...

Any insight appreciated :-)

Simon

[tkeracer619]

I think what you need to ask yourself is what do you want to keep.

Under NO (normal output) lights not much coral wise will happen. If its fish only and you are not going to want any coral in the next few years than by all means get NO lighting. You can get bulbs at Home depot.

If you want coral you need some t5's or metal halides and that is were you spend some money. I came from a 55FW to a 150REEF. I run 3 250w metal halides and 2 180w vhos. The electric bill for the tank is ~~ $100+ per month.

[bertoni]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=550860

That thread has a lot of information.

The watts-per-gallon rules are nearly useless for comparing across different types of lighting. Foe example, the inexpensive setups often have no reflector, or a poor reflector, which reduces the efficiency of the lighting dramatically, especially at lower depths in the tank.

What kind of animals would you like to keep?

[theatrus]

Those bulbs quoted are the spiral twisty type compact fluorescents right?

They consume 10W of power which is very little, and their twisty nature makes them very inefficient at putting the light into the tank. When they claim "Like 50W" they're comparing it to incandescents.

[bertoni]

Yes, I'd ignore all the "10 W but same as 50 W" numbers. That's marketing.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Ok, thanks for the info :-)

I guess I'll just have to spend a fortune then... I guess at least it's a one-off cost...

Cheers,
Simon.