lighting for my 120

[medicreefer]

Now that I've got my lighting issues for my 20g all sorted out (thanks to the help of all you RC members) I'm going to be light shopping for my future 120g build in the next few weeks and have a few questions.

At this point i'm planning on lighting with 2 x 250w 14,000k MH and 4 x 54w T5 HO). For the T5s i'm looking at going with 2 actinics, 1 fiji purple and 1 daylight 6500k. Will this give me good light coverage and enough par to keep a variety of LPS and SPS? I like a slight blue look without being over-bearing in the blue department. Another option is to go with 20,000k MHs and switch up the T5 colours but I read on here that if I do that I'll need to go to 400w as MHs lose intensity at the higher colour temps. Any truth to that? I don't want to go all T5 as I like the shimmer effect.

My tank will have a relatively open looking aquascape with a couple of islands. I plan on having the corals placed mostly at mid-tank height and allowed to grow up from there. Hopefully my light choice will have the "penetration" to allow me to do that, as I don't want to have a rock wall built all the way up to the top just to place my corals on top.

Heat may or may not be an issue but I don't think so. The tank will be in a finished basement with a very steady year-round room temp of 72F. On the other hand it will need a canopy (though it may be an open-top canopy) because I need to prevent glare and hide the ugly look of the clear screen top that will be keeping my jawfish from jumping. I can easily have fans in the canopy.

Any thoughts on this? Any recomended lights, reflectors and ballasts? I'm looking for a good mix of value and quality. Finally, I just saw a giesseman all-in-one unit with the 2 MH and 4 T5 combo. Does anybody know about the quality/value of this unit or am I better off just going DIY?

Thanks

[rob.mwpropane]

Well as far as lighting goes it would help to know the dimensions of your tank, or at least the footprint. That will determine a lot. I myself am building a light for a 75. 2 lumatek dimmable ballasts,(150,175,250,275(hqi), 2 lumenmax 2, and 2 by 54watt t5.

[rob.mwpropane]

By the way, what are the dimensions of your 20, and what did you light it with?

[medicreefer]

Sorry I didn't mention the dimensions. Guess I should have. Its a standard 120g so its 48L x24W x24H.

My 20g is 24L x 12W x 16H.
Its lit with 4x24w T5 HO. 2 giesemann actinic plus, 1 giesemann aquablue, 1 KZ fiji purple

[SATAN FISH]

I too have heard read something along the lines of intensity and higher kelvin range. I had one 400 watt 20k bulb. I got used to the looks of that. I then felt I needed my corals to grow more, and after reading came to the conclusion that a 10k mh would be better for that. After going from the 20k to the 10k (just did it today) I am still kinda shocked when I look at my tank. Since I am so used to it being blue, every time I see it now it looks REALLY yellow. My wife said it looks really pretty, but I am used to the blue so it looks really strange to me still.

I also have some 460nm actinic PC's (two at 96 watts). I figured it would put some blue back into it, but still it barley phases the 400 watts of yellow metal halide.

Again though, I am just trying to see if I can get my corals to grow more. I will most likely go with a 14 or 15k bulb for a happy balance in the future.

BTW, I don't consider a standard 120g to be 48" long. I have my 125gallon that is 72" long and that seems normal to me. One 400 watt light will do your tank better than it does mine though.

[RoscoPColtrane]

I'm setting up a 120g in my basement and am considering using 2x 250W halides and 4x 54W T5s. This lighting will be more than enough for anything you want to keep. I'm planning to purchase a hanging fixture, however they are very expensive. If you have a canopy you can probably save a lot of money and buy individual ballasts, reflectors etc. A good start would be to decide what bulb you would like to run, this will influence your other decisions... ballast type, DE vs SE, and reflector.
The Giesemann fixtures look very nice and usually get good reviews, but it seems like a waste of money to put it in a canopy. JMO...

[rob.mwpropane]

Definitely go with lumenmax elites and 4 by 54 watt t5. With the elites you may get a spotlight effect, so you can either raise them up, or go with lumenmax 2 or 3, which will give you a broader light. With a better reflector like lumenmax, you should only need 2 250w on a 24 inch high, esp with 4 t5. You could grow anything. The elites are very intense, and is what I would go with on my 75, but I want t5, so I'm going with lumenmax 2. I only have 18 front to back, so I'm jealous of your 24 for sure.

[rob.mwpropane]

Forgot to mention that was all my opinion, and from what I've read. Now there are some nice fixtures out there, but you'd have to pay for it. I like DIY, I can get exactly what I want. Happy Reefing.

[200mfromocean]

Quote(At this point i'm planning on lighting with 2 x 250w 14,000k MH and 4 x 54w T5 HO)


Did this with slr icecap retrfit kits, and LB minis. The 4 X t'5 provide adequate light for viewing and is kind of nice. It was kind of a tight fit and the t5's are blocking a little of the LB reflectors.
I just upgraded the old mag ballasts to the lumatek 400/250 and can't wait to try them out. THe 20K 400 has almost 2X par as 14K 250s.

You may want to try the coralvue/lumatek/whatever dimable ballast first.

[medicreefer]

is the lumatek 400/250 a dimable ballast? Also, if I'm DIYing, how much minimum clearance above the water do I need to fit in good reflectors? What's the closest the lights/reflectors should be to the water surface?

[200mfromocean]

Melev has them 16" away. I am runnning 250's and keep them 14" away. The temp in the room is 73. I am able to keep the temp within .5 degrees running my halides for 7 hours straight using a $13 fan.

The new ballasts have not come in yet so I have not determined if I will be able to control the temp running 400's.

[dj9264]

Now that I've got my lighting issues for my 20g all sorted out (thanks to the help of all you RC members) I'm going to be light shopping for my future 120g build in the next few weeks and have a few questions.

At this point i'm planning on lighting with 2 x 250w 14,000k MH and 4 x 54w T5 HO). For the T5s i'm looking at going with 2 actinics, 1 fiji purple and 1 daylight 6500k. Will this give me good light coverage and enough par to keep a variety of LPS and SPS? I like a slight blue look without being over-bearing in the blue department. Another option is to go with 20,000k MHs and switch up the T5 colours but I read on here that if I do that I'll need to go to 400w as MHs lose intensity at the higher colour temps. Any truth to that? I don't want to go all T5 as I like the shimmer effect.

My tank will have a relatively open looking aquascape with a couple of islands. I plan on having the corals placed mostly at mid-tank height and allowed to grow up from there. Hopefully my light choice will have the "penetration" to allow me to do that, as I don't want to have a rock wall built all the way up to the top just to place my corals on top.

Heat may or may not be an issue but I don't think so. The tank will be in a finished basement with a very steady year-round room temp of 72F. On the other hand it will need a canopy (though it may be an open-top canopy) because I need to prevent glare and hide the ugly look of the clear screen top that will be keeping my jawfish from jumping. I can easily have fans in the canopy.

Any thoughts on this? Any recomended lights, reflectors and ballasts? I'm looking for a good mix of value and quality. Finally, I just saw a giesseman all-in-one unit with the 2 MH and 4 T5 combo. Does anybody know about the quality/value of this unit or am I better off just going DIY?

Thanks

I like the Giesseman units. You would not want to hide this in a canopy. And they rely on passive cooling. They come with two Aquablues and two Actinic plus T5s and 10K HQIs. I switched one Aquablue for a G'mann True Actinic and the other Aquablue for an ATI Blue Plus which is the same color as the two G'mann Actinic Plus (if not the same bulb with a different brand.) I'm not big fan of the blue but I'll want to keep at least two of the T5s blue because the MH is very white. The low PAR of the True Actinic is less of a concern because again you have the halides.

If you were to switch the HQIs to say 14K then you could stay with the Aquablues or switch in a Fiji Purple or GE 6.5K or an Actinic White. Depends on what you like. 20K halides are too blue for me.

[medicreefer]

Yeah, if I went with the all-in-one fixture from Giesseman I wouldn't hide it in the canopy. I'm thinking of DIYing my light fixture in my canopy though so I can get exactly what I want.

If I go with the lumatek 250w/400w ballast I could always start with 250w and after a year, if I'm not happy with my coral growth I could upgrade to 400w. I'm assuming it's one ballast per bulb, correct? (sorry for that stupid question).

Looking at the fixtures/reflectors to go with these ballasts I could either get a Lumenmax Elite Mogul fixture or a Lumenmax 2 Mogul fixture as both of these would allow me to upgrade from 250w to 400w bulbs if I understand correctly. If I go with a Lumenmax Elite 250w HQI fixture, then I'm stuck with 250w bulbs going forward unless I change out the entire fixture. I'm assuming this because the mogul fixtures don't list wattages but the HQI fixture does list the wattage. Am I getting all of that right?

Given the fact that the highest above the water I'll probably be able to keep these bulbs is 12-14 inches, which of the above options for lights fixtures/reflectors do you guys recommend? My tank size again is 48x24x24. Which type and brand of bulb works bet with the lumatek digital ballasts?

Thanks again

[medicreefer]

Bump... Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions on my last post?

[SPS_77493]

Are you sure you don't want to do T5's? :) Below is my 120/g with the constellation 7 bulb T5 Fixture. Good Luck.

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=39342&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ada+120+g&start=0

[shaunt]

Are you sure you don't want to do T5's? :) Below is my 120/g with the constellation 7 bulb T5 Fixture. Good Luck.

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=39342&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ada+120+g&start=0

I really like those fixtures but they have been out of stock forever with no sign of availabilty in the near future

[medicreefer]

Are you sure you don't want to do T5's? :) Below is my 120/g with the constellation 7 bulb T5 Fixture. Good Luck.

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=39342&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ada+120+g&start=0

Well, Initially I was thinking of going with only T5s. But then I got to thinking that I could get the best of both worlds by going with a T5 + MH combo. This way I get the benefits of the MH (more natural look, shimmer lines, etc.) as well as the benefits of the 4 T5 bulbs (more even light spread, more choices for color, etc.). I know there's the drawback of power consumption and heat.

Will the 4 x 54w T5s be enough to balance out the shaded areas from the MH lights and allow me to place corals just about anywhere?

Also, any further advice on my questions regarding mogul vs HQI, reflectors etc. from above?

[RoscoPColtrane]

250W halides and 4x T5s will be more than enough light. In my opinion 400W is a waste of electricity.

As for as ballast and reflector. You need to choose a bulb first. No one will be able to pick this for you, it is a matter of preference. If you want a 14K look, Pheonix and Radiums are very popular. These both run best on HQI M80 ballasts. Pheonix are DE, Radiums are SE. Which ever bulb you pick will determine the reflector. There are many threads here about both bulbs and many others about reflectors. I cannot comment about bulbs or reflectors from experience but I have been researching both and when run on the proper ballast both are well liked. Which is best for you will be determined by your own needs and preferences.

[SPS_77493]

Well, Initially I was thinking of going with only T5s. But then I got to thinking that I could get the best of both worlds by going with a T5 + MH combo. This way I get the benefits of the MH (more natural look, shimmer lines, etc.) as well as the benefits of the 4 T5 bulbs (more even light spread, more choices for color, etc.). I know there's the drawback of power consumption and heat.

Will the 4 x 54w T5s be enough to balance out the shaded areas from the MH lights and allow me to place corals just about anywhere?

Also, any further advice on my questions regarding mogul vs HQI, reflectors etc. from above?

With good reflectors, the 4 bulb should be able to cover the shaded areas nicely.

[medicreefer]

I know the consensus is that I need to choose my bulbs and go from there, and I promise I'm doing my research but I still need some help from the experienced reefers here. My understanding is that SE has the biggest selection of bulbs but that they may give off a bit less par than DE. I've also read that the SE bulbs are much bigger and require much larger reflectors. Would I even be able to fit my supplemental 4x48" T5s with decent reflectors over my tank if I have 2 SE bulbs there? (my tank is 48x24). Because if I can't get my T5s in for supplemental lighting then the decision is made for me and I'll have to go with DE bulbs.

[paul_111]

I like MH. FWIW, I just switched to (8) 54w T5's on my 120g from (2) 150W HQI and (2) 135W PC. I also recently saw a 250W HQI on a ~40gal tank.

All of this makes me think you are on the right track. One issue I had was my PC's were washing out the blue from the HQI's, so I don't think using a 6500k is a good idea. I think a 50/50 or 75/25 would be better, with 14k or 15k HQI's.

I have wondered what just a pair of 14-15k 250W HQI's would look like...

I think my upgrade will have a MH/T5 combo.

[medicreefer]

So after much research and reading many threads on RC and a few other forums I think I've decided to go with Phoenix 14K bulbs. I know there are a few people on here who seem to really hate them, but there are a ton more who have great things to say about them and that they give a good balance of colour and growth. With my 4 x T5s to help me tweak the colour I think I could make it work really well.

As for reflectors and ballasts, I'm going to go with lumenmax reflectors and the lumatek 250/400 dimmable digital ballast. Apparently this is one of the only electronic ballasts that's able to drive the phoenix bulbs properly and even better than the magnetic ballasts that are usually recommended for phoenix.

Of course, this is all based on my limited research, so is there any feedback from experienced reefers? Do I have everything mixed up or should I be ok with this set-up?

[DEERE G]

Where do you guys with the 24x48 120's hang 4 T5's and big reflectors.
I have a 120 with Lumenarc minis and 2 t5's with slr's and the top is aluminum against aluminum front to back. I would hang 4 t5's but I don't see how.
Pics?

[medicreefer]

Where do you guys with the 24x48 120's hang 4 T5's and big reflectors.
I have a 120 with Lumenarc minis and 2 t5's with slr's and the top is aluminum against aluminum front to back. I would hang 4 t5's but I don't see how.
Pics?

The lumenmax HQI, DE reflectors are listed as 11.5" wide. ATI T5 endcap stand-offs are 2.5" wide (their reflectors are even smaller at just 2" wide). So, if you leave 1/4" of space between each T5 stand-off and between the T5s and MHs that takes up 23" from front to back, which will just barely fit into a 24" canopy... And in doing all of htis research I've answered my own question about DE vs SE bulbs. SE reflectors are huge and just won't allow 4 T5s to fit into the canopy, so no moguls for me!

But any answers to my last set of questions? Anybody?