Need advice on lighting...

[TampaJim]

I am starting a 460 gallon reef tank. I am planning on buying my lighting tomorrow or the next day, so any help would be appreciated.

Goal: Mixed reef tank with some fish. I am not interested in clams, but soft, lps, and sps corals are desired.

The tank is 96L-36W-31H.

I want to buy a self contained unit 7 ft long and about 18 inches wide. With five 400w HQI metal halide bulbs...10k or 15K,
and 4 actinic 110 watt HVO bulbs.

This gives me 5.3 watts per gallon.

Anybody have any suggestions?
Should I get the 10K or the 15K?
Should I get 140 watt HVO bulbs instead of 110 watt? Should I switch to PC or T5?



Thanks.

Jim

[BurntOutReefer]

IMO...10K will give you some great growth......
dont bother with PC/T5....stay MH....and get the 140's.....
you can always change photoperiod if its "too much light".....
and fans...lots and lots of fans.......

[TampaJim]

Thanks for the quick advice...

Here is a photo of the set up...

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/tampajim/IMG_0554.jpg

Jim

[BurntOutReefer]

gonna (does) look sweet..what kinda fish you going with?
This would make a great tank for some lionfish....(sorry...really partial to lions lately)

[TampaJim]

I am actually going to make this one into a reef tank with corals...and not a whole lot of fish.

I am putting in a 10ft predator tank as a room divider in my house simultaneously...

I ordered this 8ft tank. Then ripped down the wall, and realized that I could fit a 10 footer....so I ordered the 10 ft, and kept the 8ft to turn into a reef system.

I will most definately have a lion fish in the 10 ft tank.

[VegasMike]

My tank is 96"x36"x32" so pretty much the same. There aren't any real good premade units out there like you described. I started out with eight 250's. It worked fine, but then the Lumenarc reflectors became available again and I replaced the eight 250's with four 400's. I do not supplement, but rather currently use 400 watt 20000k Helios bulbs with EVC electronic ballasts. I have no problems whatsoever with growing SPS and clams on the sand.

You may have to build your own lighting unit though. You can use the Tubular Aluminum that they sell at HD and even skin it in Aluminum if you really want to get creative as the Lumenarcs are very indistrial looking, but great reflectors. You could also run the VHO's along the outside of the lumenarcs if you decide to go the 10000k/VHO actinic route.

Mike

[dgasmd]

Some good advice from Mike here. I would even suggest that since you going with mostly softies and LPS, you could even use 4 x 250 watt SE (color of your choice) with any ballast of your choice. You'll get the spread and strong enough for what you intend to keep with the lumenarcs. Those reflectors are expensive compared to anything else in the market, but well their cost in what you get. You could also add some actinics if you'd like mostly for your eyes. For this I would suggest the T5 instead as they seem to have so much more visual intensity when used with reflectors thant the VHO do and use much less electricity too.