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View Full Version : 1000w over shallow prop tank


flyyyguy
10/16/2009, 07:17 PM
Im setting up a fairly extensive prop system and have the luxury of space to play a little. Wondering about the feasibility of running a thousand watt bulb or two over part of one of my 16" deep sps prop tanks.

what do you think?? ridiculous overkill or reasonable experiment and worth playing with??

If you have experience with this what bulb would you be considering??

MSX-Jeff
10/16/2009, 10:50 PM
I think that even with the highest K bulb you are going to photoinhibit the corals with 1000w at 16" of water. There is definitely such a thing as "too much light", ask anyone who has done a prop system in a greenhouse (we have our prop system in a GH ;) ).

zaraemna
10/16/2009, 11:25 PM
Vividaquariums has 1000W bulbs over their shallow frag tanks. They have the lights up pretty high so it is easy for people to look at the frags in the tanks. I'm not sure if their web site shows the lights or not. You could call or email them to find out what bulbs they are using.

MSX-Jeff
10/16/2009, 11:33 PM
1000 watters make sense if you are mounting them 3-4 ft over the tanks for a lookdown retail display, but in aquaculture you need to do everything as cheaply as possible....250's mounted 10" from the water will cost a lot less to run and will give you plenty of light over a 16" deep tank.

garrettm85
10/17/2009, 05:11 PM
I have had a 1000w setup with a radium 20K over a 18" deep sps tank. It was about 16" or so above the water. I got excellent growth and crazy good color. I know of a store locally(closed now) that used to have 2x 1000w over one of their sps tanks. I want to say it was roughly 4ft long by 3ft wide by 14"-16" tall. The lights were about 22"-24" off of the surface of the water. Their stuff grew really well and had great color too.

Garrett

flyyyguy
10/17/2009, 05:41 PM
Thanks for the input all.

I think like most things........I need to see it for myself. Im not going to install two of them as I was originally thinking but I am going to install one, stick it it one of those huge new ocho reflectors from SLS and throw a radium 20k in it over one side of a 4x6 frag tank and see what happens.

jd474
10/19/2009, 11:33 AM
we almost exclusively use 1000W bulbs over all of our coral systems, and i wouldn't go any other route if you're not concerned with elec. cost and can afford the chiller (they are extremely hot). our troughs are 6' and 8' in length 2' and 3' wide and 12" - 16" deep. growth and color are excellent. lights are 2 per trough, kept 24" off the water. sps can handle it no problem, lps/softies you can do just 1 1000W bulb over the center about 30 - 36" high without problems.

fishyfish8
10/20/2009, 05:09 PM
I think 1000w might burn your corals and probably kill them if you put it too close.

reefer31
10/21/2009, 12:47 AM
I would never use that much light for "propagating" corals unless its just for your enjoyment. If you are trying to get money out this endeavor it will all go towards electrical costs. I would imagine that just 150 watters would be plenty of light for a 16" frag tank, 250 would be pushing it and probably would need 20k bulbs to reduce the light a little bit. Im sure with a nice 150w 10k bulb you would get nice growth and color, if you wanted to add more blue go with some t5 supplements and you would be fine. I just think that the love affair with very very high watt lights is insane! But go ahead and try it if you really want to.

Losungen
10/22/2009, 07:23 PM
I look at it like this. At my current electrical rates, a 1000w would cost me about 200 bucks more a year to run over a 250w. Electricity is cheap right now too, here anyways.

metalmulisha
10/23/2009, 01:37 PM
1000 watters make sense if you are mounting them 3-4 ft over the tanks for a lookdown retail display, but in aquaculture you need to do everything as cheaply as possible....250's mounted 10" from the water will cost a lot less to run and will give you plenty of light over a 16" deep tank.

+1

I know in the grow world a 1000 watt HPS will cover up to a 4x4 foot print. I your really trying to experiment get the setup up and get your par metere and read the reading. Thats the only way your going to find out first hand rather than what people say. Interesting choice of lighting.
If your going that route and care about heat mind as well get a grow light with a 6 inch air hole and get a fan to exhaust the heat produced. I didn't connect my 600 watt to be cooled but it threw some serious heat out! Can't imagine how hot the 1000 would be if they werent connected.

madean
10/23/2009, 09:10 PM
+1 on a par meter. Will be a great investment and you will have more control with your tank knowing what par levels you have and where they are in the tank. Maybe you should think about a light rail system. Instead of two lights maybe use a light rail system to cover the whole tank with one light. A quick search and you should be able to figure out what the light rail system looks like.

coralseeker
10/26/2009, 09:43 AM
I am planning on using my 1000w single reflector over a 16' x 24" x 10" depth trough on a motorized rail. Starting at 24" off water, then adjust.

fishypets
10/26/2009, 11:13 AM
Have you considered using T5 lighting instead? If you use a good quality fixture you'll get the same growth as M.H.'s but you can "tweak" your colors if you choose to by simply switching out 1 to 2 bulbs. Plus you wouldn't have to deal with the heat and or electric bill that the 1000W would produce. Just my .02

Clint

fish lad
10/26/2009, 06:34 PM
150w 8" above water with better feeding is more likely to give you better results bra

Speedracer84
10/26/2009, 08:33 PM
It could work with the right amount of vertical and width spacing

jeepguy242
10/27/2009, 05:42 AM
t5 over metal halide? wouldnt that take up alot more space to get the same wattage/intensity of light ( im asking not commenting because i am looking to upgrade lighting and was thinking on mh for that reason)

the808state
10/27/2009, 02:40 PM
Waikiki Aquarium gets over 2000 PAR at 24" of depth on there outdoor tank and around 1400 on a cloudy day... What does a 1000w MH give at that depth?

Too much or too little light isn't the question... Acclimation is the key.

Now what you need to worry about is selling a coral grown under 1000w MHs to some one with a 150w MH. I wouldn't guarantee anything past arrival.

myrchandle
10/27/2009, 03:33 PM
150w 8" above water with better feeding is more likely to give you better results bra

+1