Reef lighting!?

[Arrg]

This evening I went into the pet store egar to turn my current fish tank into a reef tank. :o) YAY me! So I asked the guy at the pet store if I could buy a live rock, figuring that the best place to start right? So then he asks me what kind of light I have and I'm like I don't know it's a fluorescent light in a hood. The guy practicly yelled at me telling me thats no good. Now I can't afford a 500 dollar light, well I could but it wouldn't go over well with the company I work for who puts me in charge of making the fish tank look pretty. So I'm looking for a cheap alternative, I've got a 55 gallon tank, I think it's 48 inches long but I'll have to check in the morning.

I work for a metal company so I was wondering if there's a place I could buy all the parts and just make a hood out of metal. or maybe someone knows a good place I could buy from or something. It would be a huge help because even though its at work it's still pretty much my tank, my own money goes into it with a here and there donation from petty cash. :op

If anyone has any info I'd greatly apprecaite it.

[Andru881]

there are all the time 48" PC hoods for sale in the saleing fourm....since you work with metal you could make a really nice polished AL pendent ...at some hardwear stores they have 175w MH flood lights for around $30, just rip the guts out and get a better bulb... but your going to need 2 of the MH for a 55g tank

[Silencer]

Your first problem is listening to the guy at the pet store. Live rock doesn't really need any special lights or anything. If that's what you're starting with you should be ok now as long as you go slow. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your problem though. If you could explain what your current setup is than we could help you out a little bit more.

[sales weasel]

Metal Halide isn't your only option...there is also T5. Also, yes, you can build your own hood to house them. You may need to build in some small cooling fans. Go to reefgeek.com and look at the TEK T5 retro kits:
http://reefgeek.com/products/categories/lighting/104068.html
A four light TEK retro is $299 and I believe it comes with the lights. Get a daylight bulb (GE 6500 if they'll allow that bulb in the package), an 11,000k bulb and two actinic+ bulbs

With that setup, you can grow any coral you want. However, if you only want to grow soft coral and/or LPS, that will be too much light. A good 260w pc light fixture will probably be enough. If you want SPS, you'll need the T5 or Metal Halide lighting. For SPS coral, the water quality and the water flow are also very important. If you've never had coral before, I'd recommend starting with soft corals and LPS. You can use the less powerful and less expensive lighting. Also, some fish are not reef compatible in a captive system. Some Angels and Butterflies as well as other species will nip at corals. If you already have fish, you'll have to be sure they are compatible.

[Arrg]

My current setup is pretty simple it's a 55 gallon tank 48 inches long, it's got a Magnum 350 bio-pro system, it's got whatever light came standard with the hood, it's a normal old fluorescent bulb looks like something you'd get out of an office building.

I was looking in the petsolutons catalog which the place has been good to me, I've gotten some pretty good deals there, but there are these differnt fluorescent bulbs called T6's and they have all differnt kinds, like the Ultimate Reef T6 lamp, and the 11000k Ultra Daylight T6 Lamp, the Vlue Actinic 03, ect... now are those acceptable lights or do they do anything specail other then glow a differnt color?

As for the thing Andru881 was talking about, if I could make something for like 30 bucks I'd so rock that, but does anyone else have feed back on doing something like that?

[Silencer]

It depends what kind of corals you want. The main options would be Power Compact (PC) bulbs, T5 and VHO (different size florescents, VHO are high power version of normal size, T5 are smaller size and fairly new) and Metal Halide (MH). Different corals/creatures need different amounts of light so depending on what you want to house you may or may not need to spend a lot on lighting.

MH is generally considered the best but it can also create heat issues for a tank your size. PC are usually used on very small tanks but you can still do it on a 55g. T5 or VHO is a more common option for your size tank but again, it depends what you want to have in your tank. If you can decide what kind of corals or creatures you want (sps, lps, softies, clams, anemones...) it will be much easier to pick the appropriate lighting system, and if you aren't sure it's better to get a nice light setup now or you'll probably end up spending more money when you replace it later.

[Insane Reefer]

Hi Arrg!
You're talking to the Queen of Afro-American Engineering here, lol.

You can indeed strip the ballast and socket from a cheap MH fixture you find at Wally-world, so long as you encase the ballast in something that won't burn (I used an old card file metal box I found at a garage sale) and is reasonably waterproof, and mount it "remotely" - that is, not in the canopy, but underneath the tank.
My dad is/was an electrician and my last big tank was a 40gal with 1X175 MH. Heat was intense, so fans had to be installed in the canopy.
But keep in mind that while the fixture is inexpensive, the bulbs are not - the average reef ready bulb is going to run you like $80 (or more), and if you use the "cheap" ballast from a flood, the bulbs will not last as long as they should, as "cheap" fixtures use "Rapid Start" and not "Instant Start" (unless something has changed in the last few years).

I'm getting ready to start up a tank in the next few months, and if you are interested in making a few bucks, I might be interested in a hood. Nothing fancy, just something to fit the complete top of my aquarium - maybe 5 inches tall....

Good luck!

[reefcapnnick]

Is 6 X 54 watt T5 overkill for a 65g? (48x18x17)

[fishball]

[violation]

[badpacket]

Hi All,

Fishball has been spamming the site with this 'site' that just happens to be in the same area code as his shop. Before you consider buying potentially non-UL Approved lighting, and no-name bulbs, please consider the source.

A related thread on this issue is here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=848362

[mhurley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7401648#post7401648 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badpacket
Hi All,

Fishball has been spamming the site with this 'site' that just happens to be in the same area code as his shop.

Not anymore.