metal halides

[funkmaster]

im in the process of upgrading to a 300 gal reef ..96L x 24 h x 30 d ..i think want to do mh lights with t5s...250 watt i want sure what company i should go with and if i should get a retro fit will atinic t-5s ....what i do know is im not a fan of pc and coral life fixtures .....eric

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

just do leds. they will pay for themselves in 3-4 years because of electric from the lights, money from changing all the lights, and money from cooling in the summer so instead of having a big chiller you can just use a fan to blow across the top. if you really wanna do metal halides just make a canopy and do a diy fixture in the canopy that way you can just customize everything about it and not have to spend money later on if you dont like something.

im in the process of upgrading to a 300 gal reef ..96L x 24 h x 30 d ..i think want to do mh lights with t5s...250 watt i want sure what company i should go with and if i should get a retro fit will atinic t-5s ....what i do know is im not a fan of pc and coral life fixtures .....eric

 

[INNEED]

Plus 1

 

[funkmaster]

now the next thing is how many leds the tank is 30d leds shine down ...if i go with leds what brand there are so many the tank is 8 ft long ...it will cost thousands.....also how wide will the fixure need to be

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

DIY is the cheapest. it depends what you want sps or lps. i have 144 to grow sps in a 125 72x18x23. it ran me about $1,800 and if you want to get a brand then get aqua illumination but look at the difference in price. to for my tank i would need 6 AI modules and the rail to mount them. it was about $3,500 a diy works the same way and i like it better because like i said i can customize anything about it. it cost me $1,800 and it has dimming and everything. about wideness i would say like 18-20" wide. i think even 12" might work if you want to grow the coral in the center then just get the 12" and put it right over the middle or if you want the coral in the back just place the fixture towards the back. ass far a deepness. you can get 65-80 degree optics if you plan on keeping sps coral midway to high or 40 degree optics to focus the light all the way down but then you would need a more concentrated amount of lights so you dont get like a spotlight effect.

now the next thing is how many leds the tank is 30d leds shine down ...if i go with leds what brand there are so many the tank is 8 ft long ...it will cost thousands.....also how wide will the fixure need to be

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i just thought it out a little if you want to do sps or mixed then just get 340 3 watt crees 170 white and 170 blue. i think this is the best way to go because you can always dim them if you want. unless you dont want sps or just want lps and softies and just a couple of sps at the top then you can get 250 leds 125 white and 125 blue. and then you can get dimmable drivers so you can adjust the color

 

[funkmaster]

i want a mix ...sps and lps ..y do they need to dim

 

[funkmaster]

what about rapidled.com

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

dimming is not much more expensive maybe in your case with such a large amount of lights it would probably be 100-200 more to dim. and the purpose is so you can introduce new coral and stuff and you can just dim the lights but more importantly you can have them dim like the sunrise and sunset like slowly turn on and off and you can also choose what color you like and also they are extremely bright and sometimes the coral can start bleaching so you would need to dim them a little

i want a mix ...sps and lps ..y do they need to dim

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i got all my leds from rapidled and the drivers from http://www.cdiweb.com/PortalProductDetail.aspx?ProdId=368096&ManufId=332. there like 8 dollars less per driver. so if you want to do a mixed reef you would need 30 drivers.

what about rapidled.com

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

so it would be about $250 if you get them from that website to make them dimmable plus the controller which i assume you will have for a tank that size. either apex or reefkeeper. i recommend the reefkeeper and the dimmable attachment is like 90-100 so $350 to make them dimmable. but trust me its worth it. you dont want to have these super high powered leds and then they are to strong for your corals because then your gonna have to go out and get dimmable drivers or just sell the whole fixture.

 

[funkmaster]

i will do some reserch on leds im not scared to do a diy thanks for your help

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

no problem. if you have any questions feel free to pm me. im still building mine. i had a couple of carless very minor mistakes like burning out an led but other then that its coming out great and im really happy with them. i think i have a pic on my tank thread of 1 row of 12 leds lighting up the whole room and the rooms has recess lighting with 27 lights and these leds lit it up. they are amazing and i really think you should take the right path because i truly believe leds are the future of reef lighting. ohh 1 more thing i think it was 2 days ago that rapid led dropped the prices on the xp-e and xp-g models so you will get a little savings now.

i will do some reserch on leds im not scared to do a diy thanks for your help