Let's Talk about Lighting!!! Newbies and Veterans Join in, Please!

[magellan007]

I'd like us to talk about what type of lighting we all use, how long we've been using it, how satisfied we are, the cons/pros, etc.

I'll start: I have a 67g rectangular tank (more deep than long). I currently have two 175W 20000K metal halide bulbs, as well as two power compact fixtures that contain a Super Actinic, a Daylight, a White, and an Actinic bulb. I've had this tank set up since the first of December of 2007 and I used to run both sets of lights, but now I only use the halides on a 12hr cycle from 8am to 8pm. I think I quit using the PCs for the simple reason that they make my tank look green..I don't know why; you'd think with those blue bulbs it'd be blue, but it's green..go figure.

ANYway, I'm really satisfied with this setup, and my corals seem to like it as well. They serve another purpose of heating my tank, which allows me to get away with not having a heater. And if anyone's seen my tank, it's proof that you don't have to have 250-400W electricity-eating bulbs to have good coloration and coral growth--also saves from an outrageous electric bill (though lately, the outside temperatures aren't helping a bit).

As far as coral goes, I have a little bit of everything: montipora, zoanthids, stylophora, platies, hammers, goniopora, acropora, pavona, porites, leathers, etc. And they are all doing well and growing/multiplying.
I have had a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone since the startup, and it has successfully split twice within a six month period. Color is spectacular and it seems very happy as it grows so large it's beginning to touch not-so-nearby corals.

Here is a pic of my tank as it is now with the current lighting:
(it's not that dark..or green/blue, but my camera's gay, so..it looks much better in person)

[magellan007]

And I don't want JUST voting, people! Please add a paragraph or two about your lighting; this is a discussion thread.

[cweber]

I recently started a 135g, and am using my dual 175watt MH from my 75g. I had VHO actinics with them also but i think the ballast burned up on them. Im only running two 20000k bulbs right now but plan to add another matching bulb, and also putting the spider reflectors on maybe by the end of the year.

PS- Its hard to get away from the shimmer of the bulbs.

[jnsnams]

magellan007 love the color on that tank..

[poke75]

I have had many different set ups.

1st was 16ft of VHO on a 75g.
-I liked the results of this lighting on my softies and LPS's
-The looks of the light was a little on the pink side.
-I was able to run these in a short canopy and they were not too expensive to change out every year.

2nd is 2-250w MH and 16ft of VHO on a 125g.
-The corals liked this setup also (only softies and LPS)
-I really liked the looks of this setup, color was great.
-There was a lot of heat and expense to running this setup.
-The canopy was tall and had to have fans installed

3rd was 2-250w MH and 8ft of VHO on a 5' 100g tank.
-almost exactly the same as the one above.

4th was a 250w MH and 12' of VHO's on a custom 95g tank
-Same as above, but the heat was affecting the thermostat in the house (bad location of the tank and thermostat)

5th is a 58g with 12' of VHO and 6' of T5
-The corals all seem to be very happy (LPS, softies and SPS), they are all growing nicely.
-The color is ok, a little pink (need to change the combination of bulb types) but I really do miss the shimmer that comes from the MH's.
-Price is right on the bulbs and on electric consumption.


My overall take:
Use enough of what ever lights you think makes your tank look its best and keeps your corals happy.
I have seen (and nowI have done it) people keep SPS's under VHO (if there is enough of them and they are placed well).
I personally like the shimmer of the MH's, but I don't like the cost of them and the heat they put out.
If overall cost was not an issue, I would use MH's with T5 actenics, but, cost is an issue for me, so I will probably use VHO and T5's for quite sometime, I think I can get a good combination of bulbs that will look good and keep the critters happy.

Steve

[poke75]

Forgot about the 29g I had with PC's.

I liked the color, but the LPS's did not seem to grow well. I don't think I would try SPS's in a deep location using only PC's.

[pwhitby]

Seems like T5s are the way people are going. I have run MH and I liked them, but I now prefer T5s, they have as much light, you can vary the bulbs easier and get the exact color you want. They last quite a while as well.

I use the Tek T5 units (hoods) I have two 6 bulb units and 2 8 bulb units.

I also run (or will run) another 4 of the 2 bulb retro kits over my sumps/frag tanks.

Im a definite fan of T5s.

[gws76]

I've never used LED's, so I have no input on them. I've never used Metal Halides either, but have seen several tanks, using metal halides, that looked great and had super growth. But metal halides do produce a lot of heat and seem expensive to use and buy.
I have used t-5's by themselves and a combination of t-5's w/pc's.

Of course the t-5's as a stand alone have been excellent in my opinion for my tank. I also like the fact that you can use different combinations to get the light effect pleasing to the eye as well as effective for the inhabitants.

The t-5's w/pc's just were not as effective IMO as the t-5's alone.

I may have an opinion on the led's in the future. My daughter and I are working on a zoa tank that will have t-5's plus current usa powerbrite LED lights.

[TulsaReefer]

I've been using a combo of T5s and VHOs on my 110 for right at a year now. I have 4 - 4' T5 tubes being overdriven to around 80 watts with an Icecap ballast and Icecap SLR reflectors. I run a pair of ATI Blue+, one ATI Aquablue special, and one UVL Aquasun. I built my own enclosure and have a couple very quiet 120mm fans on it to force cool the tubes (really needed if you overdrive them). I also have a pair or UVL 4' 110 watt Super Actinic tubes that provide a little extra pop on my tank as well as sunrise and sunset lighting in the morning and evening. Everything has been pretty happy with the lighting so far, with some corals growing much faster than I expected. I did have to move a few zoas down to the sand bed (24" deep tank) since the T5s were too bright for them up higher. Mainly blue and a couple other colors didn't like the intensity. Pink and red zoas seemed to really like the light so they stayed up higher. A blue tip staghorn I have has grown to about 8 inches in size in less than a year under the T5s. I've also had a green Pocillapora grow to about 4 inches in diameter in 8 months as well.

On my new 220G I'll be doing T5s again, except this time it will be all T5, with 8 - 4' overdriven T5 tubes running on a pair of Icecap ballasts, and 6 - 2' tubes (not overdriven) filling in on the ends of the 4' tubes (it's a 6' tank) in a staggered manner. The 2' tubes will be running on Hagen glo retrofit ballasts. The back 2 rows will only be 4' tubes only since I have corner overflows and don't really need to light the inside of them. This will give me a total of 14 tubes over a 6' x 2' tank, half on Icecap reflectors, the other half on Aquatinic reflectors. I'm building another enclosure again to help with force cooling with a bank of 6 to 8 smaller 80mm fans this time. They will be controlled to come on in either 3 or 4 groups, with the 2' tubes coming on first in either 1 or two groups, then the blue tubes on the Icecap will come on, and finally the daylight tubes on the final Icecap ballast will come on. They will turn off in reverse order at the end of the day. This should give me a nice ramp up and down as the day goes on, and depending on the PAR readings I get I may only run the daylights for about 6 hours. I've found the ATI Blue+ tubes actually put out quite a bit of PAR themselves, so I'm using 4 of them, and then splitting the daylight ballast between UVL Aquasun, and ATI Aquablue Special, 2 each.

I also have a 29g tank that runs 4 - 2' T5s, and it's mainly SPS frags.

So far I've enjoyed the T5s, and like the ability to tune the color of the tank. I like the ability to use good reflectors to get essentially all the the light into the tank over my old VHOs. While I like the shimmer of Halides, my 110g tank hood was too short for them, and on my new 220g it would be tight at best to use halides, and now I have all this T5 equipment and don't want to start all over anyway.

[magellan007]

Thanks for the responses so far.. looks like a majority of you like the T5 setups. I still prefer halides, but perhaps in the future I'll include a couple T5s so I can get the color I want still using the MHs.

Dustin, I'd really like if you said a few words about your LEDs.. I know Ray has spoken to me about switching over to them in the near future, so I'd love to get some first-hand opinions of them.

[OkR33Fer]

In my time in this hobby I have not used t5s. I started out with a halide/pc setup. I have used pc only as well with good results in my nano. My current 50g is VHO only and everything does very well including my maxima clam. My 150 is MH/VHO but I haven't had it long enough to form my own opinion on the setup just yet.