How much wattage needed/recommended.

[hazard345]

I'm going to be getting a new 120g tank this year. I've raised lps corals for a while and have had great success with them. But I am more interested in switching to an all sps reef tank. My question is, how much wattage is recommend per gallon for an sps tank? Mostly for accros and montis with a couple of my lps maze brain corals.
I was thinking of going with something like this DrsFosterSmith (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12113&Ntt=coralife%20luna%20aqualight&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1)

The 72" 834watt

Are there any other recommendations of lights? Also is it safe to use all 20k bulbs? or a mixture of 10k/20k?

[Yinger]

watts per gallon isn't really a way for judging how much lighting you need. It more so depends on the depth of the tank.

[bad habit]

watts per gallon isn't a good rule to follow the depth of the tank and coral placement is the real key along with good flow.

[bderos]

My tank is 18" deep. I have 2 54W T-5 lights. One atanic and one 10K. Whats your opinion? Do I have enought light.

[Yinger]

what's the length of the tank? I'd go 250s.

[supervdl]

it looks like your tank is rather shallow and 250W would work. However, I recently changed from 250W to 400W and all SPS regardless of placement in tank have shown tremendous growth spurt.

[shred5]

I would stay away from coral life if possible.. I am guessing you have a standard 120 gallon tank.. If so something like that would be good.. I would go 2 250 watt d/e lamps with some actinics like the one in the pic. I prefer VHO over compact fluorescent.

Edit: 1 See that you listed it as 72" length? 1 halide is good for about 2' length. Which means you would need 3 halides. How deep is the tank? That will help determine the wattage of the bulb need. Also what are you planning on keeping?

Dave

[HornetMech242]

My tank is going to be 25" deep so i am going with three 250 watters SE on Lumenarc III's. But i am debating now if im going to use PFO HQI ballast or IceCap electronic. I think both will run XM 10,000K.

Chris

[hazard345]

Well when I order the aquarium I have 2 choices for tank size.

The measurements for the 120g is 48"x24"x24
or 72"x18"x21

I am probably going for the 48x24x24 to leave more space in my house.

The tank is going to be used to raised mostly sps
These are the kinds I'm interested in:
Staghorn Acros: Blue, orchid, indo purple
Acro Blue Bottlebrush
Fireside acro
purple haze

Montipora:
Green apple cap
red candy cap
birdsnest
solomon salmon digitata

and the few lps corals i have in my current aquarium which are doing great under my 280watts total of pc and vho lighting combination.

So basically 2 x 250w 10k or 14k MH would work for this aquarium? If so does anyone have any links to good light fixtures that they would recommend?

[HornetMech242]

The ballast has alot to do with it as well. For an example, a PFO HQI and IceCap will run an XM 10,000k bulb but the PFO over powers the bulb and you get a much higher PAR than you do from the IceCap ballast. A quality reflector is also a factor. You can get good bulb and ballast but its useless unless you have a good reflector to get it down into the tank. That is why i am going with the Lumenarc III reflectors. Usually the higher temp of the balb the lower PAR you will get. There are some exceptions to that though. Take a read in the below message and this will explain the different ballast and bulbs, they also have links to different sites that breakdown performance of bulb and ballast performance.

Hope that helped out instead of made the choice more confusing.

Ballast and Bulb Info (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=624185)

Chris

[shred5]

hazard345
Go with the 48" tank.. A reef tank is better the deeper it is front to back (width). It make for easier aquascaping. Plus a 48" tank will only require 2 halides and will save money on the fixture/bulbs/electricity. In my opinion the 4’ 120 gallon is a perfect size tank. Next would be a 180.

With this tank I would go with (2) 250 d/e with actinic supplementation either vho which I prefer or T5’s.. Also prefer a whiter lamp than most for the halide, but thats me. A lamp between 10k and 14k should do.

Dave

[hazard345]

Thank you dave, that's the exact information I wanted to know :)

If possible could anyone on here send me a direct link to an online supplier with the items I would need for a good metal halide lighting system.

[hazard345]

I would appreciate if any links are given, that they could be sent to me in a pm, as I'm not sure I will be able to check this post within the next couple of days. Thanks

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

www.premiumaquatics.com
www.hellolights.com
www.oceanencounter.com
www.reefexotics.com

....Or anyother of the RC sponsors on the 'sponsor' page.

[Yinger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9094424#post9094424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shannahan14
My tank is going to be 25" deep so i am going with three 250 watters SE on Lumenarc III's. But i am debating now if im going to use PFO HQI ballast or IceCap electronic. I think both will run XM 10,000K.

Chris


chris, if you going with 10k XMs, go with the icecaps, they produce quite a bit of intensity, i believe 115 ppfd and burn whiter. they tend to burn more yellow i believe on a hqi. Just add some actinics and you'll have a really nice crisp white with a tint of blue.

[GSMguy]

48inch easier to light and much nicer shape

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

A magnetic ballast(m57,m58,m59) will run an XM 10K brighter than a icecap will, if you are going with XM.

[Dansin]

I have a 29 gal. with 1-400 watt mh. magnetic ballast. I was running a hamiltom 20k blub. Not much growth. I switched to a xm 10k blub. with in 1 week i see color change already and i see the growth also. I think that the 250 watt. are good. I haven't seen a real diffrence in my electric bill yet. Myself i purchased a 120 gal. 4X2X2 and i will be running 2-400 watt. 10k xm blubs. with 2-uri super attinics and 2-uri attinics. I think that will do the job. I have seen a 4x2x2 tank with 2-250 watt. 10 k- xms. and they look great also. His growth is outstanding. Don't forget about flow never to much. Good luck.