Newbie with questions on lighting

[tebstan]

I'm setting up a salt water tank for the first time! I've done freshwater of all kinds, but have always been hesitant to take the plunge into reef keeping. I'm finally in a position to give it a shot, and I'm getting myself really excited.

I'm going with a 75 or 90 All Glass/Aqueon overflow set up. I'm worried about heat from the lighting because of the location of the tank. I want to stick with T5s, they seem to give off the least heat aside from LEDs. ($$) I'm concerned about the T5s ability to sustain a 90 gallon. I don't want to have a bare bottomed tank because nothing will grow in the dim. With 2 twin tube T5s, would it be better to get the 75 gallon?

Also, about the T5 lighting... I've never seen one small enough for a sump. I can get a little PC, but I want to avoid that.
I have a few ESU slim lines I'm not using. They're usually for desert reptile critters, a 10.0 UV. I'm afraid this is a stupid question, but will this suffuce for a 17" deep sump to grow some algae?

I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions. I've read a lot of posts; you guys really know what you're talking about. I'm glad I found such a good resource.

[msmith619]

Lighting, a very touchy subject! This will elicit much debate. Here is my 2 cents worth:
For a 90 gallon (assuming a standard 4 foot 90 gallon) you will need at least a 4 buld fixture but if you want corals a 6 buld T5 fixture is necessary with 3 being 10,000 white and 3 being actinics.
If you did a 75 gallon (what I have) a 4 buld fixture will work for MOST LPS, soft corals and some sps corals and clams if they are close to the top of the tank. The PAR (amount of light) drops dramtically with tank depth. Over 18 inches deep you will need the 6 bulb fixture to reach corals at that depth. If you are going FOWLR (fish only with live rock) your 2 bulbs with work fine.
Mike

[Kristy]

About the sump lighting, I assume you are trying to grow some macroalgae in a refugium section (otherwise you don't really need any lighting at all). For this, the cheaper lights work better, have the more appropriate color / PAR to promote the algae growth. We have a $10 clip on light from Home Depot that works great.

[tebstan]

Hmm. 6 bulbs? Better to go the retrofit route then, to make it all fit. It means more work, but less money. I assume they should be spaced apart equally? I'm going to attempt attaching them to a canopy. I might have to build something custom, but I'd rather not.

The coral part is what has kept me from reef keeping before. There's so much to choose from, and so much to learn! I want to keep my options open for the long term, so I want lighting that will work for anything my little heart desires. :)

Yes, I'm doing a refugium, I think. I'm not too familiar with the mechanics of that, and I'm still learning about it. I do definitely want macroalgae growing in the sump.

Does anyone have any good links for me to read up on lighting specifically for the refugium? I don't know what the appropriate color/PAR is; it can't be as demanding as the main tank.

[Kristy]

The following quote is from Melev's Reef, (http://melevsreef.com/rk101_sumps.html)which has excellent articles to answer any question you could think of re: sumps and refugiums.

"The refugium will need some type of light over it for the macro algae to grow. My preference is a 5100K (http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page/001/PROD/Reflectors/1P381951) spiral compact fluorescent bulb. I run the lighting on a reverse photo period, from 10pm to 8am daily. (When I used to keep Caulerpa nummularia (http://www.melevsreef.com/id/caulerpa_nummularia.html), I found that leaving the light on 24 hours a day prevented it from going sexual. It was an easy solution to an annoying problem.)"

[brewercm]

Refugium can take any color bulb. I'm using a 65watt 6.5K compact flourescent light bulb from HD along with one of their clip on lights with reflector. Whole thing put me back maybe $18. Par for the refugium really isn't that important since it's just to grow algae. I've also used a dual PC fixture before with 10K and actinic on my sump and that worked fine. Really whatever you can find that is cheap will do.

As for your lights you can find many number of bulb configurations in premade setups (price depending).
Here is a great link that is all about T5 lighting from a guy off of Reef Central. The guy also has his own web site with lots of good info also that you don't have to read through all the pages I just don't remember it.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1623490

[msmith619]

Hmm. 6 bulbs? Better to go the retrofit route then, to make it all fit. It means more work, but less money. I assume they should be spaced apart equally? I'm going to attempt attaching them to a canopy. I might have to build something custom, but I'd rather not.

The coral part is what has kept me from reef keeping before. There's so much to choose from, and so much to learn! I want to keep my options open for the long term, so I want lighting that will work for anything my little heart desires. :)

Does anyone have any good links for me to read up on lighting specifically for the refugium? I don't know what the appropriate color/PAR is; it can't be as demanding as the main tank.

OK, lighting link: http://tfivetesting.googlepages.com/combinatio
this is the best info I know of for reading about Par and reef lighting. He gives buld recommendations and rates a few fixtures. For a sump/refugium get a $10 compacr flourescent bulb you would use in a 60 what lamp as a sump light, no corals here and great spectrum for macro algea.
Mike

[Gseclipse02]

i have a custom 90 and mine is a tad bit longer i think its like 51 inch's but for the most part its the same.... i do run a 6 bulb light set up (im trying to fit 8 eventually retro) its hard to do since my tank isn't so wide i think its 19 inches wide it just depends on the reflectors ...

here some pics ...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1102.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1103.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1104.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1105.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1106.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1107.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/gseclipse02/PICT1108.jpg

i do need to change what order the bulbs are in but i have been to lazy ....

i run two ballast one for day light and one for actinics

[corkyGramma]

I have the same problem with the length of my retro fixture ;) Nice pix by the way!

[Rychek]

You'll be hard pressed to fit 8 T5 bulbs with reflectors over a standard 90 gal tank. I've got 6 over mine with room for a seventh, but there would be a fair amount of wasted light in the back as well as the front. I'm not saying it can't be done, but if it were done with a retro, it wouldn't be as efficient.