125 gallon reef lighting advice

[egos4life]

Okay I have a 55 gallon reef with t5 lighting that I had been slowly building up 5 months everythign is going great but I want to expand my horizons and found a drilled with dual overflows 125 gallon tank for an exceptional price. I am wondering what kind of lighting I will need for it how much will it cost I am looking to pick up metal halides and what not any advice is much appreciated... Oh yeah I will be looking to keep all kinds of corals

[Alaskan Reefer]

3X250W if you want to keep SPS to the bottom, 3X150W if you can live with them only on the upper half of the tank. One good thing about the 125g is it's not overly deep, so you get good light penetration without having to use 400W halides. If your T5 is still useful, you could consider incorporating it as well. I have a very funky setup of an 8X54W T5 fixture (remnant of my 75g) over 2/3 of my 125g and a 150W HQI pendant over the other 1/3. Takes a while and a lot of bulbs to get the color matched and it helps to have adjustable height to get the intensity matched, but once it's dialed in it's pretty cool and works well. I've been happy with it for years.

[abulgin]

Do you have to have the absolute best fixture out there?

[cdbias2]

Do you have 1 center brace or 2?

[mg426]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14958100#post14958100 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abulgin
Do you have to have the absolute best fixture out there?

Very good question as the higher end reflectors will leave a mark.

[reefscape15]

I'd take your existing T-5's apart and retrofit if you going with a canopy, and then add 3 250watt MH. Individual reflectors should be a must for any T-5's as well.

[egos4life]

it has 2 center braces... i could go with 4 65 what actics and then the 3 250 watt halides and then some moonlights and I will be fine I plan to build a canopy so I can attach the ballast and reflectors to it.

[sminker]

dont waste your money and buy 36" T5's. i should of bought 60" to begin with.

from what i understand and read then 6x80 watt T5s with individual SLR reflectors should let you keep just about anything you want. ive read lots of threads and seen some pics with that setup.

im in the process of getting my lighting up to PAR for some SPS in my 125 gallon tank also.

if you are going the halide route search for this on ebay

Halide 250 3x

theres a guy on there selling them for $369 and he has some hecka good feedback.

im more than likely gonna go with T5 setup using my 4x39 (since i already own) and 4x80 retro kits

*the main reason i decided against halide for my 125 is possibility of creating a heat issue. chillers arent cheap*

[egos4life]

okay now the issue if i go with halides and actics what are the actual chances of heat i plan on building a rather tall canopy and also having a plexiglass to break down the heat an opinions on that

[Alaskan Reefer]

The more open the canopy and the more fans, the less likely you are to have a heat issue. Plexiglass atop the tank would insulate the heat and reduce fan effectiveness as well.

[reefscape15]

Also, plexiglass will distort your color of the bulbs you choose as it is not really clear. You would need to use either glass or acrylic, but as Alaskan said, it would reduce the effectiveness of the cooling you could get from fans. I know a lot of people run a pair of fans on each end of their canopies with temp controllers to keep a consistant temp. It's much cheaper than a chiller if your running anything larger than a nano tank, and works pretty well. If you are making a taller canopy, that will also help the heat from getting directly blasted into your water from the MH bulbs

[jimnrose]

I'm just getting started on a 125 gallon reef tank and plan to build a LED system. The lower operating cost, less heat and more flexibility in selective intensities are the justification. There is a great thread in the 'do it yourself' forum titled LED-the write-up that would be helpful. LED's are still new and will further improve in intensity (umens/watt) and optics (to control the light) but even at the present technology, it's the best route especially for people who like to builtd their own or want to learn how to DIY.
Enjoy, Jim

[drparker]

Ballasts also produce heat so I would not put them on or in your canopy but remote mount them.

[w16227]

I have a 125 with 6 x 50" T5 retrofit kits - non overdriven with icepack reflectors.

Have some SPS midway up the tank - doing great. I do not have a good comparison to MH as far as growth rate (one may be better), they are definitely working.

The 50" retro is not the easiest to install (long bulb length = difficult endcap installation) -- but I am really happy with the results.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/w16227/tank/build/moon.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/w16227/tank/build/light1.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/w16227/tank/build/light3.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/w16227/tank/feb%2027%202009/DSC00278.jpg