Lighting help needed

[Ourfish]

Hi!

So we're in the process of starting a 33 gallon coral reef tank. It's a tall tank (h - 24" w -20" d - 17") and we're planning on having soft coral and a couple of fish.

What type of lighting do we need? We're trying to keep the costs as low as possible but we're having a hard time understanding what type of lighting we need to buy.

thanks!

 

[Bifferwine]

I would go with this:

250W Metal Halide Pendant Lights

Or this:

150W Metal Halide Pendant Lights

The stronger light will allow you to keep any type of corals you want down the road. The weaker one will be fine for most corals, but because of the depth of your tank, you may not be able to keep higher light corals on the bottom of the tank.

 

[reeffreak]

The length is only 20'',right?

If so,A MH pendant like Biff linked to is your best bet.An LED module like this will work well too since your choice of corals aren't that light demanding.

LED Aquarium Lighting | Evolution LED Lights

 

[Ourfish]

Do Metal Halide lights get really hot? Would we need to buy cooling fans to?

 

[PRC]

Yes, they get hot..Depending on the type of MH light you purchase they generally have fans built in.

 

[Bifferwine]

The pendants don't have fans built in, but when I ran one over my old 10 gallon tank, it didn't heat up the tank much. Most people take a cheap clip-on fan from Walmart and just have it blowing across the surface of the water.

 

[Ourfish]

Do all metal hallides need to be hung from the ceiling?

 

[BL1]

No, you can get models that clip on to your tank Aquarium Lighting for Nano Reef Aquariums: Viper HQI Metal Halide Clamp Lamp and they also make models that have legs and stand right on the tank but, they are hard to come by for tanks 20" wide

 

[Ourfish]

other than metal hallides and LEDs, what other options are out there for my type of tank?

 

[BL1]

T5s may also be an option for you but, once again it's hard to find a good fixture for a 20" tank that will also be strog enough for a tank as deep as yours

 

[Ourfish]

what wattage of t5s would i need for my tank? same as the metal hallides?

 

[Bifferwine]

About the same. You want to aim for at least 5 watts per gallon. That's not as important to go by if the T5s have individual reflectors, though.

 

[bjohanson1234]

But the shortest t5's are 24" long. So you would be wasting 1/6th of your light output because it isnt going in the tank. 2" on each side would be hanging over the side of the tank. I would go with a MH fixture because moe of the light owuld go into the tank.

 

[Ourfish]

But the shortest t5's are 24" long. So you would be wasting 1/6th of your light output because it isnt going in the tank. 2" on each side would be hanging over the side of the tank. I would go with a MH fixture because moe of the light owuld go into the tank.

Yeah that's true. However I'm really not stoked on the way the metal hallides will heat up. Having a fan running all the time doesn't sound too attractive... =P

 

[reeffreak]

other than metal hallides and LEDs, what other options are out there for my type of tank?

Those are your two best options.

The really good T5 bulbs start 24''.The choices of bulbs and PAR(photosynthetic active radiation) are terrible on the 18'' T5 bulbs.That LED fixture is fairly inexpensive,uses less watts and you won't have to worry about replacing the bulbs.They suppose to last 5-10 or more years.

 

[Ourfish]

The LED fixture is nice, but we were hoping to not have to spend $300 on lighting. Are there any other places where we could find LED lighting?

 

[Bifferwine]

For cheaper than that? I don't think so. Your best bet is to go with the MH. If you get a MH pendant, it won't come with any built in fans, and you may not need to use one blowing on the tank, depending on the tank's temperatures.

 

[Ourfish]

What colour spektrum do I need?

 

[reeffreak]

Nope,that is about the cheapest LED fixture intended for reef aquariums you will find.Nothing wrong with going with the MH pendant Biff linked too.

Don't forget.,MH bulbs need to be replace every 6-12 months.At $50-$80 each,it adds up.

 

[Bifferwine]

10K bulbs are very yellow. 20K and above is very blue. I think your best bet is to pick something in between. Usually, 14K is offered as an option.