hijinks

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Jersey City
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Hey guys.. I've been lurking here for a bit and decided to post. I'm pretty new to the hobby. I've done freshwater but being the do it yourself that I am and also always wanting to upgrade, I figure salt water is a good thing to try.

I have a 46g bow front and I'm wondering what kind of lighting would be the best for me. From what I know certain corals need more light then others. I think just to start I want hardy corals and fish. I'm also looking for a setup with moonlights since I think they look good but also read they are beneficial to the tank.

So if anyone has any tips I'd love to hear it.. I've tried to talk to some LFS workers but I'd rather hear people's opinions that don't want my money.

Also I'd rather not get a chiller at this stage. If one is needed I guess I will have to open the wallet some more.

Thanks!
 

meschaefer

One to Ignore
Location
Astoria
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Hey guys.. I've been lurking here for a bit and decided to post. I'm pretty new to the hobby. I've done freshwater but being the do it yourself that I am and also always wanting to upgrade, I figure salt water is a good thing to try.

I have a 46g bow front and I'm wondering what kind of lighting would be the best for me. From what I know certain corals need more light then others. I think just to start I want hardy corals and fish. I'm also looking for a setup with moonlights since I think they look good but also read they are beneficial to the tank.

So if anyone has any tips I'd love to hear it.. I've tried to talk to some LFS workers but I'd rather hear people's opinions that don't want my money.

Also I'd rather not get a chiller at this stage. If one is needed I guess I will have to open the wallet some more.

Thanks!


Hi, and welcome to Manhattan Reefs.

There are alot of options when it comes to lighting, but the two main choices are Metal Halides (MH) and T5's. Generally speaking there are "high light" corals and "low light" corals and your choice of lighting is usually dependent on what you want to keep.

While there are always exceptions, MH are usually used by people wanting to keep high light corals, and generally speaking high light corals are some of the more sensative species available. Furthermore MH systems are known for radiating alot of excess heat. Generally speaking you need one lamp for every 2 foot of tank length. They come in various sizes including 150w, 175w, 250w and 400w, and to a certain degree what size lamp you choose is dependent on the depth of the tank. 150 and 175w lamps are good for 18" tall tanks, 250 for 24" tanks and for tanks over 30" you end up with 400w lamps.

From your post it doesn't seem like MH lamps are the way to go for you, and you might be better served by T5 lights. There are a wide range of availble T5 fixtures, but the important things are the type of ballast used to drive the bulbs, and that each bulb has its own indvidual reflector. T5 are somwhat versitile too, as depending on the type of system you buy you can keep low light or high light corals depending on the number of lamps in the fixture.

Hopefully some one else can chime in with more info on T5, as I use MH and I feel more comfortable providing specifics on them.
 

meschaefer

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Astoria
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I am not familiar with the dimensions of your tank, and on top of that it will be somewhat dependent on your rock structure. As an example I have a six foot long tank that is 24" tall. Because of the height of the tank, I use 250w lamps. (I also supllment for color but that is another issue)

The general rule of thumb is that I need to use 3 lamps to cover six foot of tank, but because of the way I built my rock I only use two. I have two pillars, with a single lamp over each as opposed to the more traditional rock wall. here is a pic from when I first built my rock structures, it will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

NewRock.jpg
 
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When you use MH, a chiller is necessity.
A single hot day would kill off your whole tank by tripping the death of one item in your tank.

You can get away without a chiller upon lower wattage T5 during a hot day.
If the site is in a cool location then you can get by with some awareness during the hot days.

Should consider cooler lighting if chiller is not planned.
 
Last edited:

Keith P

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Great Neck, NY
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Ok thanks guys.. t5's it is.. you made up my mind

A nice advantage of T5 is that you can put the light directly over the water. If you were to use a 250W MH, you would have to hang it pretty high off of the water to get a good spread.

If you are going T5, make sure to get one with individual reflectors (SLR) and some kind of cooling (fans).
 
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Queens, 11365
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would something like this work?

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~action~view~idProduct~CU01063~idCategory~FILTFIMHMMMDMLM5~category~36in~vendor~.html

would I need any other types of lights or do the MH give off the right light

sunpods are fine but you might want to get a couple of actinic T5s attached to it. most people have different settings for T5s and MH. I have my MH on for only 5-6 hours and my T5s (now LEDs) for 8-9 hours.

btw. the price is way too much..try to find a used one
 

Keith P

Mr. No-Show
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Great Neck, NY
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i think you should go with 2x150 MH..you'll regret it for going T5. would not be that bad in the summer

Why would he regret T5? The ONLY disadvantage is the lack of shimmer.

T5 is more cost effective bulb wise, uses less power, less heat, longer bulb life. To me, the best advantage is the ability to fine tune the light color and intensity (via bulb swapping).
 
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Why would he regret T5? The ONLY disadvantage is the lack of shimmer.

T5 is more cost effective bulb wise, uses less power, less heat, longer bulb life. To me, the best advantage is the ability to fine tune the light color and intensity (via bulb swapping).


To add shimmer in T5 setups, you can also add LEDs or you can use LEDs with controller to adjust color. Couple clients of mine started to use T5 for growth and LED for viewing colors.


Anyway, I still think heat is a major concern if no chiller is planned. Last year, during some hottest days, we have ~100 degress ambient temperature. Some members have tank crashes even when they turned of all lights. Search the forum for tank crash and you will see.
 

hijinks

Advanced Reefer
Location
Jersey City
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anyone have any good 36inch fixtures I should be on the lookout for?

From what I've read some have issues with bad ballasts and bad reflectors or just one reflector and not over each bulb.

I think i'll now go the t5 route and hopefully by summer get a small chiller just in case.
 

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