lighting fixtures for 5' round tank.

[dmorel]

I just bought a new tank...
A 5' diameter round tank. Only 16" deep.
Will be a mixed reef keeping SPS, Zoa's, Acans and some fishes.

In my local club forum we've been tossing around a few ideas figured I should get some more input since I'm still struggling with this one.

One idea is to put a single 400 or even 1000 MH high off the tank so you get light spread and reduced heat. I'm a bit concerned what it would be like to have a super bright fixture high in the room though, would have to really make sure it wasn't throwing a lot of light around that would deter viewing the tank.

Other options are hanging two 4' MH/T5/Moonlight fixtures
Maybe three pendants
Or perhaps a few of the MH spotlights.

I really like the color my current combo of two 12K 150's and 4 65w T5's give me, but not sure it would look nice to have two fixtures hanging.

Anyone have any super ideas?
I don't want to do anything with a canopy, I want to make sure you can look down into the tank.

thanks for any advice you can give.

And for grins (and cause I'm so psyched) here's the tank holding some fake corals in the showroom of the LFS I bought it from.

[Fish_wiz2]

one 400 watt gisemann (they had on fixture called the sillgolli? and it was sick, 1x400 watt with 4x24 watt T5 actinics) i think that should do

[dmorel]

thanks fish wiz, you thinking the spectra maybe?
Like this one:
http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/cat...oducts_id=2916

I'm still wondering how high that would have to be to get the light spread over the whole tank... what kind of impact that would have on viewing.

[Fish_wiz2]

Nope, the one i mention had a built in lumenarc style reflector so it can spread like like mad! i'll try to find it

[Fish_wiz2]

Got it, it is a sfiligoi infinity xr6 (at link, on the left side)-not giesemann my bad. expensive but fits your needs and looks killer on that tank (note price doesn't include ballast you decide but the ACLS makes it even better-i've seen it in person and WOW! but my buddy sold it here used-long gone): http://www.aquariumobsessed.com/

[dmorel]

That does look very nice thanks for digging it up!
According to that site:

-Each XR6 Pendant will output a uniform light spread of 36� x 30�. Many clients have found a single XR6 suitable for lighting areas as wide as 48� x 48� comfortably

with a tank that is 60" across I wonder if I really don't need two... and that's what seems weird, hanging more than one fixture...

Wonder if I could build some light stands to hold a few fixtures.

[Fish_wiz2]

ooowww, off by 12" but it's not like you'll have corals along the glass just the middle and a bit outside so i say you'll be fine. but if you insist then wait for the 1000 watt pendant (exaggerate) to come out (same website, go to sfiligoli on the side bar and down the page)

[dmorel]

Well been kicking this around a bit, and maybe would consider doing a raised canopy.

Anyone else have good thoughts on a lighting solution for a 5' round tank?

In my club forum, we seem to be coming to the consensus that a couple of pendants (maybe three) is the way to go, and to put them in raised canopy, but would love any additional input you guys might have.
thanks!

[smsreefer]

Round tank with a round raised canopy would look cool .
Never been fond of the light spill into the room from pendants .
[needing sunglasses when looking towards the tank ]

The canopy would stop most or all of that .
Make it a small enough that you are not lighting the glass will keep the chores down.
JMO

Nice looking tank , keep us posted !

[GSMguy]

a single 1000W ushio blue bulb, or 2 400w bulbs in the big new lumenbright that holds 2 bulbs, in a raised canopy with t5s in a circle around them, lots of 24W bulbs in individual reflectors.

[dmorel]

Originally posted by smsreefer
Round tank with a round raised canopy would look cool .
Never been fond of the light spill into the room from pendants .
[needing sunglasses when looking towards the tank ]

The light spill from the pendants is exactly what I've been concerned about.
There was some talk of just putting a single 400 MH high enough to get good coverage but I can't imagine what that would be like.
As you might imagine this tank is going to be the focal point of the room, if you can't look at it, what would be the point!

Have to figure out how to do a quality raised canopy then. Want to make it so that I can raise and lower it too

[widmer]

WOW what a cool tank! If it were me, I would do a hanging pendant of either 3x 175w or 3x 250w lamps arranged in a triangle, maybe each 2 feet apart from the next, and have the whole thing on like a 2 rpm rotation. The overall diameter would be around 2 feet, and it would give much better spread than a single point source.

[dmorel]

HAHA widmer, one of the women in my club was suggesting that too. While I have a decent budget for this build I don't have the funds (nor the DIY skills) to do that kind of thing. I can probably start with a couple of low hanging 175's just to get up and rolling depending on how well I do finding a local builder for a raised canopy.