Need help with lighting...

[fishforlife]

I have a 125 gallon tank... 6 feet long. I want to have some corals, anemonies, that have moderate light needs. There are virtually hundreds of choices of lights out there. What would you recomend, considering I have a "teacher" income? T5? two 3 foot strips or one 72 inch???

Any help would be great.

[JimD]

T-5's sound like they'd be perfect for you. Alotta folks around here use T-5's and swear by them. Search T-5 and see what you find.

[Joshua]

125 is not all that deep is it? I'd put 4x 72" URI VHO lamps over it if you don't want to go with halides.

[caferacermike]

Might want to put some real consideration in T5's. They aren't quite the end all that some folks make them out to be. You may notice that not everyone has given up their regular lighting for T5. T5's are great if done properly. For a 125g you may read up and find that what you'd really need to make a dent on your lighting needs would be at least 8 3' T5 bulbs. Most of the folks that are having really good luck with T5's have them about an inch apart with expensive TEK reflectors. The reflector is what will really make the difference between a waste of T5 money and a great set up.

IMO if I was on a limited budget and wanted to keep some corals and some anemones in a 125G, I'd probably get 2 250W halides. I'd set up 2 rock piles, as I mentioned in another of your posts, at each end of the tank and have the lights directly over the piles. You'd have 2 mini tanks within your large tank and plenty of room for fish to swim between them. As your budget increases you could easily add another 3rd halide to the middle of the tank and eventually add a full set of actinic lighting to make it into a complete light set up. I'd tend to shy away from slowly adding more T5 lighting over several months due to the fact that your bulbs will all be of different ages as well as your ballasts. By the time you get all caught up, you'll be retrofitting your old bulbs.

[Joshua]

LOL... 3 replies and 3 completely different answers! Ha!

I do agree with what the racer said, also if you're on a budget and need to add lighting slowly you could start with 1 halide and a pair of VHO, keep your hard corals and clams on one side of the tank. Very easy to add a second and third halide later.

Now considering the budget. At hellolights.com you can retrofit kits for 250 watt halides for $200 with everything included for electronic ballast or $155 for everything with magnetic ballast. 4x 72" VHO everything included running over $400 and T5 are going for $143 for only 2x 36" setup including everything. I'm sure you can beat the prices if you mix & match and buy pieces here and there, but that'll give you a general ball park of the price differences and you can kind of see that Halides are generally your best bang for your buck with all things considered.

[fishforlife]

thankfs for the imput. My tank is already set up like racer suggested. I have two pile in the corners that graually slope down to the middle. Onside being slightly infront of the other...Make sense? Anyway, about Halides....Do they require a chiller? I heard that they produce tons of heat. Also, how much a month would it cost to run 2 x 250 metal halides in electricity?

[JimD]

Personaly, I woulddnt waste money on halides if your keeping anything but clams or/and sps unless you just like the shimmer lines and have zero plans to upgrade in the future. You could always run a lower wattage halide to save on operating cost and still have the sweetness of halide lighting but without the relative expense.

[jrsatx20]

i had 2 175's they were 6in from water they could raise temp 4 degrees. now i got 2 250's about 18in off the surface and it raises it the same. now i have a fan blowing 16hrs/day. need a chiller now i guess.

[JimD]

i had 2 175's they were 6in from water they could raise temp 4 degrees. now i got 2 250's about 18in off the surface and it raises it the same. now i have a fan blowing 16hrs/day. need a chiller now i guess.

Thats interesting, at 18" above the surface, I wonder if the 250's usable par is being negated by the distance. I would imagine that at 6" off the surface, the 175 watters may be more effective. Interesting that the temps stayed the same.

[jrsatx20]

ITS JUST FOR THE MEAN TIME. USING THEM ON MY 75 UNTIL I SET UP MY 135 SO I KNEW I NEEDED THEM TO BE HIGHER. I THINK THEY ARE WORKING AS EVIDENCE BY MY TORCHES HAVE OPENED UP MORE MY CAPS ARE COLORING UP.

[Joshua]

I'd keep them low over the 75 too. :) Seems like my house the tank temp is more tied to the setting on the A/C than the halides, but then I did have a small sump fan that was on my halide timers that probably equaled things out.

[fishforlife]

would it be better to get 1 72" inch lighing fixture or two 36 inch fixtures?

[Joshua]

would it be better to get 1 72" inch lighing fixture or two 36 inch fixtures?

Well with T5 I don't know if they make 72" so you're stuck with two 32" but for VHO I would definitely go with 72". Fewer lamps = less wiring and fewer end caps to buy.

[brewercm]

If you go with T5's I'd stick with either the TEK or ATI's but the ATI systems are pretty steep. I'm going to be going with T5's on my next tank thats 36x18x20.

[caferacermike]

I run 2x 250w halide and 2x 96w PC 6" over the water on my 75g. I've never had an issue with heat. But then again I have a custom built fixture that blows air over the bulbs and then sucks it out the other end through fans. However I can feel heat shining directly from the bulbs. If the water gets heated by 2 degrees I'd be surprised. I have no top on my tank, only a false canopy and use a large sump. The falling water of a sump can really shed heat and increase the available oxygen.

I keep the house at about 74F.