# Need some lights now



## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

I got a 90 gal standard reef setup-

Currently running a nova extreme T5 ho setup-consists of 4-54 watt bulbs right now...
And am also running a aga basic three tube light setup running 3-24 watt bulbs....

I have told I will need nothing more than T5's above my tank-And people are trying to tell me to go with 6,54 watt t5's-

I have been looking at PC's and halides though-

What do I need to have good lighting above this tank......

Thanks guys...

Oh yeah no DIY stuff-------


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

I would just get on ebay, and find something like the Outer Orbit 2x 150 watt HQI, with 2 130W dual actinic, and 6 moonlights... the downfall is the internal ballasts,and the requirement of taking the whole thing apart to replace one lil thing... but there are tons of complete lighting systems if you want the clean look

48" Outer orbit

otherwise have a canopy built and buy all your ballasts, reflectors etc separately, or buy a bad ass retro kit and save tons of money... pretty easy stuff to install in a canopy and you would end up with tons more light, and far less heat... i will find a retro example for you on ebay, one sec


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> I would just get on ebay, and find something like the Outer Orbit 2x 150 watt HQI, with 2 130W dual actinic, and 6 moonlights... the downfall is the internal ballasts,and the requirement of taking the whole thing apart to replace one lil thing... but there are tons of complete lighting systems if you want the clean look
> 
> 48" Outer orbit
> 
> otherwise have a canopy built and buy all your ballasts, reflectors etc separately, or buy a bad ass retro kit and save tons of money... pretty easy stuff to install in a canopy and you would end up with tons more light, and far less heat... i will find a retro example for you on ebay, one sec


I have not hit the link you provided yet-But will soon enough-

I have been looking at the almost 800 watt outer orbitz fixture------But damn thats alot of money.....Want to be sure before I buy.....

I do have a canopy that was built for a planted tank-It running almost 500 watts of light right now-But the damn icecap ballast went tits up-It has everything else there-
Would I be better off with just orderring the ballast again and useing it rather than the money for the outter orbitz one.....


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

If the canopy fits... why not? what lighting is in the canopy currently? 
if its fluorescent you could just change the bulbs to VHO actinic and order the proper icecap ballast to power those, and use something like this
2x175W Retro
i dont know that you would need 500w of actinic over a 90 gallon, so you could find a ballast to power 4 4' bulbs, and the 2 175w halides... you could prob grow damn near anything

Also after having halides, i will prob never go back to just floro... the light clarity and intensity makes it a totally different playing field... Right now i have 3 175w bulbs over my bowfront, it makes good light, and looks great
just ordered a 440W VHO retro with end caps and 4 super actinic bulbs, and plan to add 2 400W halides soon... prob gunna need a chiller also?

back to you...


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> If the canopy fits... why not? what lighting is in the canopy currently?
> if its fluorescent you could just change the bulbs to VHO actinic and order the proper icecap ballast to power those, and use something like this
> 2x175W Retro
> i dont know that you would need 500w of actinic over a 90 gallon, so you could find a ballast to power 4 4' bulbs, and the 2 175w halides... you could prob grow damn near anything
> ...


It's supposedly running the VHO's-
But I'll get pics of it later today for ya so you can take alook at it yourself 420 and tell me what you think about the setup and if it can be used at all.....And what route I should go with it as well....
I really would like some halides above this tank as well-----So I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about this canopy......I should be able to have pics up tomarrow for ya to look at.......

That is if your willing to help me walk through this.....









I might need a new ballast other than the one I got currently-But I'll let you determine that if ya can by the pics.....I'm not too sure what I need Sir....


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

if you going to change from 4 t-5 i would only suggest 2x 250 halide, honestly with what you have you dont need it. unless you plan on more light demanding corals there isnt much point.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> if you going to change from 4 t-5 i would only suggest 2x 250 halide, honestly with what you have you dont need it. unless you plan on more light demanding corals there isnt much point.


I think I'm going to be going with two halides in the range of 175 watt a piece and three vho's (forget the watts) thats in my canopy-
Thats is if you guys are willing to help walk this idiot through a few things thats is....

I do want to get into the more high light demanding species now.....I want this to end up being something of a show tank when all said and done....I certainly dont want to be limited by light...


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

AKSkirmish said:


> if you going to change from 4 t-5 i would only suggest 2x 250 halide, honestly with what you have you dont need it. unless you plan on more light demanding corals there isnt much point.


I think I'm going to be going with two halides in the range of 175 watt a piece and three vho's (forget the watts) thats in my canopy-
Thats is if you guys are willing to help walk this idiot through a few things thats is....

I do want to get into the more high light demanding species now.....I want this to end up being something of a show tank when all said and done....I certainly dont want to be limited by light...
[/quote]

i would suggest going higher wattage then 175 unless your going to run high end reflectors like lumerics or lumenbrights. 175w se bulbs are about equivelent to 150w de (HQI) bulbs, now that should be "ok' for a tank the depth of a 90 gallon IF you run 10k bulbs, most people do not like 10k bulbsand run 12k-14k or even 20k to get the bluer color spectrum. when you start running these higher color range bulbs the PAR output starts to drop substantially.. i would definately say 250w de hqi bulbs.. this is from experiance running 150w bulbs over a 24 inch deep tank. if you stick with the 175w definately 10k and definately a quality reflector and run the vho's for the actinic..


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> if you going to change from 4 t-5 i would only suggest 2x 250 halide, honestly with what you have you dont need it. unless you plan on more light demanding corals there isnt much point.


I think I'm going to be going with two halides in the range of 175 watt a piece and three vho's (forget the watts) thats in my canopy-
Thats is if you guys are willing to help walk this idiot through a few things thats is....

I do want to get into the more high light demanding species now.....I want this to end up being something of a show tank when all said and done....I certainly dont want to be limited by light...
[/quote]

i would suggest going higher wattage then 175 unless your going to run high end reflectors like lumerics or lumenbrights. 175w se bulbs are about equivelent to 150w de (HQI) bulbs, now that should be "ok' for a tank the depth of a 90 gallon IF you run 10k bulbs, most people do not like 10k bulbsand run 12k-14k or even 20k to get the bluer color spectrum. when you start running these higher color range bulbs the PAR output starts to drop substantially.. i would definately say 250w de hqi bulbs.. this is from experiance running 150w bulbs over a 24 inch deep tank. if you stick with the 175w definately 10k and definately a quality reflector and run the vho's for the actinic..
[/quote]

I have no problems buying 250 watt halides if that is better for this project.....
Are you saying for the bluer spectrums I want 12 to 14 K and better-But ideally I should run 10K's(for halides)
Basically Nismo-
I would love to know-
How would you do your lighting for this setup.....
I want at least 600 watts of light above this tank.....Upward of around 800 to 900 would better....


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

AKSkirmish said:


> if you going to change from 4 t-5 i would only suggest 2x 250 halide, honestly with what you have you dont need it. unless you plan on more light demanding corals there isnt much point.


I think I'm going to be going with two halides in the range of 175 watt a piece and three vho's (forget the watts) thats in my canopy-
Thats is if you guys are willing to help walk this idiot through a few things thats is....

I do want to get into the more high light demanding species now.....I want this to end up being something of a show tank when all said and done....I certainly dont want to be limited by light...
[/quote]

i would suggest going higher wattage then 175 unless your going to run high end reflectors like lumerics or lumenbrights. 175w se bulbs are about equivelent to 150w de (HQI) bulbs, now that should be "ok' for a tank the depth of a 90 gallon IF you run 10k bulbs, most people do not like 10k bulbsand run 12k-14k or even 20k to get the bluer color spectrum. when you start running these higher color range bulbs the PAR output starts to drop substantially.. i would definately say 250w de hqi bulbs.. this is from experiance running 150w bulbs over a 24 inch deep tank. if you stick with the 175w definately 10k and definately a quality reflector and run the vho's for the actinic..
[/quote]

I have no problems buying 250 watt halides if that is better for this project.....
Are you saying for the bluer spectrums I want 12 to 14 K and better-But ideally I should run 10K's(for halides)
Basically Nismo-
I would love to know-
How would you do your lighting for this setup.....
I want at least 600 watts of light above this tank.....Upward of around 800 to 900 would better....
[/quote]

if i wanted an easy reliable ready to go set up i would probably get an outer orbit with two 250 hqi's and 4 t-5's 
the stock bulbs arent the bet available and the reflecors are also not the greatest but they look better then all but the best DIY projects (that cost more in the long run) and they get the job done effectively

if i were to go all out with the most effective hardware i would go with the new Double - Ended Lumenarc III Mini Stealth DE these are very effective and efficient reflectors BUT you would need to either have someone fabricate or make your own brakcet to mount them to and hang over the tank. in addition to those i would run 2 t-5's with Parabolic reflectors. that would be about 600 watts. bulb choice would be something in the 12k-14k range. i would use icecap ballast for t-5 and halides.

the diy route would give you the most efficent and effective use of what is essentially the same setup as the outer orbit but it woul cost slightly more and teh fabrication work may not come out looking as good.


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## nataz (Mar 31, 2006)

Not sure if you made up your mind on lights yet but I would take a look at these:

http://www.hamiltontechnology.com/shop/ind...ct+Fluorescents

I currently have the 175watt setup that I ran over a 75 gallon rr with 14k bulbs and two super actinic vho bulbs.
I noticed when I ran 10k bulbs I needed the 2 vho's on since my 10k bulbs had a green tint to them, but with the the 14k bulbs I turned the two vho's off since the 14k's had a blue tint.

2 175watt MH's with 2 110watt vho's cooling fans on both sides magnetic ballast.

Also I know of a site that has a large buy/sell/trade forum but I'm not sure if its ok to post it, Admins might look down on sending people to other site for info, (which is understandable). But if they don't mind I can get the link for you.

nataz


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