How should I light my 180? MH? T-5? Both?

[Pprice01]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 72" peninsula style 180g tank - so I really only need to light 65" or so since I dont' need to light the overflow/drain section.

The tank will have a canopy that I build so I can have it whatever height it needs to be.

I also have a brace in the center that is 24".

What would you suggest?

I've heard a lot about retrofitting - should I go this route? What would I need if I do this?

Does having 2 x 250w MH and some 60" T-5's sound right? What size reflectors should I get for the MH if that's the way to go?

I plan on keeping a mixed reef - lots of fish, some sps (not sps-dominant by any means).

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Darkstar22]

MH's with a good reflector cover a 2x2 foot area. My suggestion would be 3x250w MH, and 2xT5's with a blue or actinic type bulb.

[hk855]

Halides with a good reflector will light it well but you should think about how much power they are going to use if electricity is expensive for you. Given your not going sps dominant I would suggest t5's and maybe diy led's if you really want to save long term with power and bulb replacement. FYI running two 400w hqi's ran my bill up at least 50 if not closer to 100 a month, but that's California too.

[Made4water]

I set up a 162 gallon (72w x 18d x 29.5h) about a year and a half ago and my lights look incredible but I believe they increase my energy bill by 100-125 dollars per month. I have 2 250w mh and a 400w mh in the center. I also have a 1/3 chiller (pacific coast imports cl650) that runs constantly (seems like it anyway). Mh look awesome and also increase coral growth substantially, however the down side is they will heat up your house which makes my home ac unit really work overtime. FYI I live in Louisiana, 2000 sqft house, where the temp is pretty warm year round so someone in say Maine might not share in my struggles.

If I had to do it over I'd either create some sort of ventilation system to carry the heat produced by the mh out of the house via exhaust vent.

Or... I'd simply get t5's

Good luck! Enjoy

[Pprice01]

Thank you to everyone for the great feedback.

If I did 3 x 250w MH, would having one directly over the center brace cause any unwanted side effects?

[RcToners]

IMO,

Avoid MH lighting, too much heat, way to much money each month on the old electric bill. You can go with t5 lights and grow anything that a MH will grow, they are less moeny every month on the electric bill and a heck of a lot less heat, ofcourse you would need to purchase a good fixture with individual reflectors as well as top of the line bulbs.

[Pprice01]

Thank you. I like the idea of t5 too. If I were to put this in a hood what would I need? I believe this would be a "retro" - so I think a ballast or two to drive them, wiring, and reflectors?

[Pprice01]

How many T5 Bulbs would I need? Is there a big $$ difference in doing a 60" vs. a 48"? What if I did 48" and staggered them with 8" offset on either side? Since the display is 65", if I used a 48" retro I would have 8" on the ends with the staggered bulbs and 48" complete coverage in the center.

Thoughts?

[Stupes]

I would strongly recommend not going with T5's. If you use lumen brights you can have your lamps 16 inches plus off the water reducing any heat issues. Yes you can grow sps under T5's, however it may not look right under T5's. For example I have seen a Tyree Purple monster under T5's which looked pastel purple. The same colony moved to a MH tank, changed to the dark purple its supposed to be. I agree with Darkstar, thats what I had over my 180.

[Pprice01]

Best guess: what would the cost difference per month be on my electrical to run 3 x 250 MH vs 6 or 8 T5?

[Stupes]

Probably like 10-15 dollars a month depending on your rates. It would be 10 for me and we pay .0975 per kw.

[Pprice01]

I'm very surprised to hear that. It felt like the majority opinion was that MH would be much more expensive. So what should I expect then, an extra $100 month or so?

[Stupes]

Well according the power calulator my 180 system ran me about 50-60 dollars a month. I wasnt running a chiller which saved me some money. I have seen tests showing MH's are more efficient as far as light ouput per watt, but I have also seen tests showing just the opposite. However the reflector choices for MH's are far better than for T5's. Which means you can put more of the light produced where you want it, which increases efficiency. Also it will allow you to bring the lamps further off of the water. Now your not heating your tank up so much, and you wont need to run your chiller so much. Saving you more power and more money.


This is my current system ($53 a month for power usage)
3 250 watt Radium MH
4 39 watt T5 Actinics
30 watts in LEDs
Little Giant 4MDQ as my Return pump
2 Maxi Jet Mods for my Power heads
Mag 9.5 for my skimmer
1 Maxi jet for my Carbon and Phosban Reactor

Now Im building a small aquaculture system using the same parts with the exception of the 250's. Im running 150 HQI Radiums and the calculator says it will cost me $41 a month.

[Pprice01]

Thanks Stupes! Great info. Are you referring to a generic calculator or something available from your electricity provider?

If heat and power are not issues, I think that I would prefer to go the route of 3 x 250w MH.

How high up from the tank could/should the bulbs be?

Are there any significant differences between ballast MFG, given comparing electronic ballasts between them?

[Stupes]

I used the Power Calculator on the Reef Central home page and applied my local power rates. If you went with Lumen Brights, your lamps should be about 16 inches or so off the waters surface. Theres a whole ART to picking out a Lamp Ballast combo, I personally try to match the ballast to the specs of the lamp.