Lighting Advice

[vegaskid11]

I need a little advice concerning my new lighting set-up and I am getting ready to place an order for some halides. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My current set-up is a 125 long AGA. It is 72"x18"x22" and I have an aqualight plus hanging from inside the canopy. The aqualight pro has 6 x 96watt PC.

I would like to add 2 x (250 watt HQI) to this set-up. I will be purchasing the retro kit that just came back in stock.

My question is what do you reccomend for fitting all of this into the canopy. My canopys height is (approx 14") but the width is narrow at only (18").

1. I am thinking HQI (do you agree or think SE would work better)

2. Should I mount the Hood parallel to the length of the tank or perpindicular. Best light spread.

3. There is no way to keep the Aqualight fixture complete and mount it in the canopy. I was thinking of tearing it apart and piecing it around the HQI fixtures. What are your thoughts on this. Would I be better of selling the Aqualight fixture and buying retros. The aqualight has some little fans and moonlights. Thanks in advance.

Jason

[snslarison]

Hey Jason,

First of all I would sell the Aqualight that you have. You could use the proceeds from this to buy a third MH retro. You will want to get three because of the length of your tank. It’s recommended that you have one MH lamp for every 2’ of length.

Either the HQI or SE retros would be a good choice. You have 18” front to back, the spread won’t be an issue with the HQI reflectors if you should choose them. To answer your question, I would mount them in a parallel position.

It’s becoming more and more popular to run the MH lamps alone these days so you don’t have to have fluorescent supplementation. If you run 14K, 15K or 20K lamps alone you’ll have a very nice color by most hobbyist’s standards. The only hang up here is if you wanted the dawn/ dusk effect. For that you’ll probably need the fluorescent lamps.

Let us know if you have any more questions and feel free to give us a call.

Thanks,

Scott
HL

[vegaskid11]

Scott,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your reccomendations and I will put my fixture up on my local reef club for sale. (vegasreefers.com) Using just three MH retros would deffinately solve my problem with space. I am still leaning toward HQI as opposed to SE. It seems like a cleaner unit overall. I am going to order the three units here in a few minutes.

Can I screw the reflector housing staight to the top of my canopy or do I need some type of insulating layer for the heat?

How close should I mount the units on each end to achieve the best possible light spread? Approx. I have dual overflows centered on each end. A dual side view setup.

Thanks for your help.

Jason
reef-on

[snslarison]

Jason,

Yes you can mount them straight to the canopy.
I would mount them in 24" intervals. That should be perfect.
It will be a great setup. By the way, you will probably want to add a couple of fans to the canopy as well for ventallation.

Thanks!
Scott

[kjord97]

I dont mean to take anyones thunder, But i have the same tank as you. I would like to just add 2 cents.


I have 2 sets of aqua light pros on my 125 gal ( same as yorus) I like only having 2 sets of Metal halids 1 on each end of the tank. I leave the center with only PC's as it leaves the center of the tank not as bright, I use the area for my Orange Tree Gorgonian's and my Chili Coral. Both of them like low light. It is all about your aquascaping in the tank. I focus most of my 150lbs of rock around the 2 ends of the tank and the center is open for swimming and the low light corals.

[Hellolights1]

Thanks for the input Kjord.

Jason,

One thing you will find in this hobby (as in most things) there are many ways to achieve success. Again, please feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.

HL