Aquarium upgrade - lighting question

[Silly clownfish]

My current aquarium has been up and running continuously since 1998. My oldest in habitant was one of my first - a now 15 year old ocelaris clown that I got as a tank raised juvenile. So changing things will be dramatic, but we really want to refinish the hardwood floors and the tank needs to move. If we're going to move it, we might as well upgrade info on the current setup below.

I am planning to go to a 55 gal (48 x 12.5 x21"). I am leaning toward the Reef breeders photon 48 and would appreciate some opinions. I am pretty sure everything I have will do well with this light. It seems to be a good product for a reasonable price. And so cool that it is fully programmable. Which angle will I need? How high above the water should I mount it? Would I eventually be able to keep a clam under this (my husband wants one).

This unit has 102, 3W LEDs. I assume they are not all on for all of the daylight hours (ex. The moonlight ones would be off for daylight)? I'm trying to get a ballpark idea on electric consumption compared to my current T12 VHO setup.

Any other fixtures I should consider?

Current Aquarium
size: 30 gallon
filter: Penguin 330
skimmer: BakPak2
lights: 2 x 36" VHO T12 (96W ea), 1 actinic white, 1 super actinic
livestock:*
* 1 ocelaris clown, 1 flame hawk
* live rock
* 1*coral banded shrimp
* 1 serpent star
* 1 brittle star
* misc clean up crew
* live rock
* frogspawn coral (grows so aggressively that I take pieces to the LFS to trade several time/year)
* umbrella leather
* mixed mushrooms

[milesmiles902]

Well, are you only wanting LED's or would you consider T5's? Maybe even a Halide?

[Silly clownfish]

Valid question.

I was originally thinking of T5s. I could use my current Ice Cap ballast and just get new fittings. But LEDs seem to be the wave of the future and offer so many color and programing options. I know that once I get it set up and am happy I will probably never tweak it again though.

LEDs generate less heat and are supposed to be more energy efficient too. I would like to reduce energy usage, both from an environmental standpoint and southeast Pennsylvania has expensive electricity.

No interest in MH for the above reasons.

Thanks,
Kim

[Clinton7]

T5 lighting or metal halides are the way to go! I have gone through many experiments to check coral growth with each set of lighting and Led's are not the way to go! Sure our economy can say they are a selling point but they are run by electricity not gas. Take a second and think about it does our natural environment supply electricity? No our environment runs on gas! T5 and metal halides run off of gas which produce great coral growth!

[michaellee64]

Originally Posted by Clinton7

T5 lighting or metal halides are the way to go! I have gone through many experiments to check coral growth with each set of lighting and Led's are not the way to go! Sure our economy can say they are a selling point but they are run by electricity not gas. Take a second and think about it does our natural environment supply electricity? No our environment runs on gas! T5 and metal halides run off of gas which produce great coral growth!

Well if that doesn't just suck! I guess I better take all of my LED's off of my tanks and buy back all of my MH's. I'm getting tired of how fast all of my corals are growing anyway.... I've got so many frags that I've started giving them away. Who would of guessed after 1 1/2 years of running LED's that they don't work?

[michaellee64]

Originally Posted by Clinton7

T5 and metal halides run off of gas which produce great coral growth!

You have to explain this one to me???

[Silly clownfish]

So Michael,

I'm glad you have had success with LEDs. What do you think of the light I mentioned? Would you choose those ( ~$500) over T5s (~$30 for new end caps, plus the cost of bulbs). With fluorescents, I seem to get 8-10 months out of bulbs.

Kim

[Wills612]

I would reconsider the 55g. I had one it was super difficult to aquascape, the stands are hard to accommodate a sump without heavy modification or a custom sump. I would go with a 40 breeder or 75g, if you wanted the 48" length.

[michaellee64]

Originally Posted by Silly clownfish

So Michael,

I'm glad you have had success with LEDs. What do you think of the light I mentioned? Would you choose those ( ~$500) over T5s (~$30 for new end caps, plus the cost of bulbs). With fluorescents, I seem to get 8-10 months out of bulbs.

Kim

The Reef Breeders Photon is a wonderful light. Just had a friend purchase one and he is extremely happy with it. That is a lot of light for a 55G.... I would seriously consider either a 75G or 90G for a 4' footprint. It is extremely hard to do anything with a 55G due to it only being 13" depth (front to back) I have extremely good luck with LED's and there is no going back for me. For either a 75G or 90G I would do the Photon 32. The 48" is going to have a lot of light spillage at either end of the tank. The same goes for using this light on a 55G..... you'll probably end up having a lot of light spillage on the front and back due to the 13" depth. A 12" to 16" fixture will do approximately 24" x 24". Also I would probably put the 90 degree optics on it and hang it anywhere from 8' to 12" off of the water. If you need to be less than 8" than I would just do 120 degrees!

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Clinton7

T5 lighting or metal halides are the way to go! I have gone through many experiments to check coral growth with each set of lighting and Led's are not the way to go! Sure our economy can say they are a selling point but they are run by electricity not gas. Take a second and think about it does our natural environment supply electricity? No our environment runs on gas! T5 and metal halides run off of gas which produce great coral growth!

I hate to just say this so bluntly, but Clinton7, you are an id**t. And you have personally gone through these experiments? And your gas versus electricity argument is ludicrous! Light is made of photons no matter how they are created. I suppose you don't believe in evolution either?

To Silly clownfish: Leds are just as good as MH (and better than t5) for growing corals. I switched from MH to led 6 months ago and my sps and lps are growing as well or better now.

And save yourself $50 and get better results by switching your choice from the Photon 48 to the Photon 32. They have the same number of leds so they make the same PAR (good light). The 48" fixture is going to throw (and waste) light out on the floor out the ends of the tank. With the 32" fisture the spread of light out the ends will just cover the 48" tank and you keep all the light inside where you want it and it does more for the coral and other critters.

Yes, all the leds will be on unless you dial it back to just moonlights. The power consumption goes down as you dial back the power to the leds. The Photon32 or 48 uses 240w at full power only, less if dimmed. Your old t5 used 192w all the time it was on. BTW, I have 2 Photon32's over my 180g tank and at the peak I run 90% power to 1 channel and 50% to the other, so at peak I'm using 70% power (average of the 2 channels) and 70% of 240w max is 168 watts. I run mine at that level for just 5 hours a day. I do a 4 hour sunrise and 5 hour sunset that are at increasing and decreasing power levels, so even less electricity is used. You won't see a big drop in power consumption, but some. You will see a HUGE increase in light. I'd suggest you start your new leds at about 30% power and then bump them up 5% a week to acclimate your corals.

Your new 55g is only 21" deep so you can use the standard 90 degree lenses, but the 120 degree lenses would work just as well.

And I agree with the others, consider going bigger than the 55g. I have one as my QT and it is VERY narrow and would be hard to aquascape. A75g makes much more sense and you could still use the Photon 32.

[Silly clownfish]

Thank you Ron and Michael,

It is a huge help knowing I can go with the 32", the height to place them, and the angle to get. Ron's explanation of the power consumption is exactly what I was looking of on that topic!

As for going with a bigger tank, that we'll need to think about with how the extra 5" bump into the room will work for traffic flow. Since the carpet will be going soon anyhow, I think I'll put tape on the floor for a few days and we can see if it would be awkward. I can see where the 55 could be difficult for aquascaping. the 30g is and it is not as tall. I'm not as concerned about the sumpp. My husband will be building the stand (he is into woodworking) and the sump might actually go in the basement. I had started a separate thread on that because I thought (apparently mistakenly ) that it was an unrelated topic.

Thanks,
Kim

[Andyf30]

Depending on what corals you're trying to grow, the LED should be fine. As far as the 55, go with something bigger. It may seem fine initially, but 55's are really narrow and are hell to aquascape and get good flow in. It may jut into the room a little more, but in the long run you'll be happy you went with something wider.

[Ron Reefman]

Kim, can you get PM's (Private Messages) through Reef Central? I'm not sure if PM's are available right from the start, seeing as you just joined.

[Silly clownfish]

Ron,
Apparently I can get PM, but not send them yet. I really appreciate the info. While I'm not new to reefkeeping, it has been 15 years since I set up an aquarium and technology has changed so much that I have a lot to get caught up on.