Lighting a new 390g SPS dominating reef tank

[yankfish]

Obviously, I am starting a 390g SPS dominant reef tank. I do not want to go LED completely. I feel this technology is moving forward at light speed and I will ultimately go all-LED when I feel that the technology is more perfected. On the other hand, I was going to go with 4 metal halides (400k each) and some T-5's. The heat and electric expense on the halides does not have me thrilled. Any ideas on an upgradeable LED-T-5 system. I appreciate your input.

[mark54321]

Have you consider the ATI Hybrid LED/T5 Power module? Not sure what dimensions is your tank and which unit you will need but this light is fully controllable and upgradable.

[yankfish]

The tank dimensions are 84"x36"x30 and I will check that out today. Ability to grow and have good color on my SPS's are paramount of course. I do like that it's upgradeable. My other options is go with metal halides and replace them within a year or 2

[Drae]

Are you going to have a canopy?

[Drae]

The tank dimensions are 84"x36"x30

Sweeeeeeet!

[yankfish]

Yes, the canopy and the cabinetry are going to be custom made

[Drae]

Yes, the canopy and the cabinetry are going to be custom made

Any and all lighting options for a sps tank that big will be costly and if your not using led primarily it's either hot halides and a large chiller ( 4x 400 watt halide and a 1 horse chiller) or a bunch of t5 bulbs and some led's to supplement. What route are you trying go? I can think of a couple options.

[Drae]

Have you consider the ATI Hybrid LED/T5 Power module? Not sure what dimensions is your tank and which unit you will need but this light is fully controllable and upgradable.

The 7' dimension makes using a fixture tough. Plus the ati doesn't make a 10bulb fixture with led's. That and the fact he's using a canopy makes a l.e.t retro fit with led supplementation his best option. Jmo

[jda]

Just use some HQI in pendants and keep the top open. You won't have any heat issues and you can easily penetrate down 30-36".

I use a single AquaMedic Ocean light (3x250) over a 7' tank and it is enough light to grow anything anywhere - the extra 6" on either side is where I put the dragon-eye, lokani, etc. The water only heats up .2 degree every day on 240 gallons, or so, and even though I have some fans set to come on at .5 degrees, all they do is collect dust.

If you drop some 14K phoenix in there, you won't need any T5, VHO or LED blue supplementation. You can run these bulbs for 2 years without any significant dropoff - I run them for 1 year over my main SPS tank and then for another year over my other tank and when I replace them, the coral does not even flinch. ...and the bulbs are reasonably cheap. There is some study on here somewhere that shows the dropoff of these bulbs on HQI ballasts over several years, if you want to Google it.

This combo is VERY effective, not expensive and does not even come close to requiring a chiller if you keep the top open or just use some simple fans - even LEDs would heat up a tank without fans in a closed canopy... they get plenty hot too, but come with fans already. My 2nd choice would be 400W Radium on HPS ballasts and Reef Optic Reflectors - very good choice but also not better, IMO.

If you are a hardcore SPS guy, you won't want to replace either of these setups with LEDs unless they make some serious strides forward.

[mark54321]

The 7' dimension makes using a fixture tough. Plus the ati doesn't make a 10bulb fixture with led's. That and the fact he's using a canopy makes a l.e.t retro fit with led supplementation his best option. Jmo

Two of the 36" 8 bulbs with LED would cover this tank perfectly. I have the 8 bulb over my 32" front to back and there is plenty of light to cover his 36" tank. Of course I agree with you not putting those inside canopy .

[ca1ore]

You are going to get lots of differing opinions. I have found LEDs to work pretty well, but have continued to use HQI spots for 5 hours/day.

[Drae]

20x39 watt LET retro fit t5's plus 4 reefbrite led strips. It'll cost you about 450$ a year to replace bulbs but you'd have a nice sps worthy canopy. It'll cost you 1,000$ for the 20x39 watt retro kits, 440$ for ati bulbs, and 600$ for the reefbrites for a total of 2,040$. Or two ati hybrids without bulbs for 3,260$.

[jda]

Here is mine - $549 for fixture and $150 for bulbs.
http://www.aqua-medic.com/product/ocean-light-3x250w/
http://www.soslightbulbs.com/product/aquarium/phoenix-14k-250w-double-ended-metal-halide-lamp/

$150 to replace bulbs every 1-2 years.

This setup will use about 960 watts of power each hour that it runs - verified kill-a-watt'ed. That is less than 6 cents an hour here, or about 50 cents a day... so $15 a month. No chiller needed. Tons of light.

Even though my tanks don't heat up when my MH are on, the 1000W heaters don't run either - talk about some power hogs.

[Drae]

Here is mine - $549 for fixture and $150 for bulbs.
http://www.aqua-medic.com/product/ocean-light-3x250w/
http://www.soslightbulbs.com/product/aquarium/phoenix-14k-250w-double-ended-metal-halide-lamp/

$150 to replace bulbs every 1-2 years.

This setup will use about 960 watts of power each hour that it runs - verified kill-a-watt'ed. That is less than 6 cents an hour here, or about 50 cents a day... so $15 a month. No chiller needed. Tons of light.

Even though my tanks don't heat up when my MH are on, the 1000W heaters don't run either - talk about some power hogs.

Not going to cut it for a 7' tank 36" wide. He'd need 400 watt halides in lumenarc reflectors for enough penetration and spread. Then he'd need to supplement with some t5's. 2000 watts plus. Those aquamedic reflectors are only good for a 24" wide tank max.

[ReachTheSky]

I'd personally suggest two 36" 8-bulb ATI Sunpower fixtures. Should run you about $1500 with bulbs. It'll be SUPER bright and give insane PAR readings.

If you really want to do LED's, I'd recommend four 36" Maxspect Razor fixtures from front to back, like this:

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That will run you about $2100.

[jda]

Is this based on actual experience with both kinds over a tank this wide? I am always interested in actual experience, so thanks, if so. I have had both on a 72x36x36 tank. The AquaMedic fixture actually spreads better back-to-front than lumenarc IME, probably because the bulb is so much further down in the reflector, the and penetrates at least as well. I could grow Tridacna on the sand. With the AB fixture in the middle of the tank and about 8" off of the water, it would spread front-to-back to where the light about 8" down the front of the glass would have limited coralline growth in the lower 28 inches - you could see a line where it would grow better above, than below.

Now, I don't think that they spread more than 24" side-to-side which is why I keep lower light stuff on the ends of my 7' tank that I have now.

I am not going to argue against 400W on awesome reflectors - they are great. I just think that the HQI is at least as good with 14K phoenix bulbs on them.

[Drae]

Could you imagine the color you'd get with 8 blue plus, 4 ge 6500k, 4 purple plus, and 4 coral plus! Not to mention the par. Then add 4 50/50 reefbrites for a light shimmer... I bet that would be awesome. And right around 780 watts of t5. A simple fan could dissipate that heat. .. well 2 small fans across the label ends of the bulbs. Run them for around 8 hours a day and bulbs will last you 15 months. Jmo