Lighting

Cliff Waldman said:
JBJ - 260 fluorescent watts with three fans to keep cool. Very good.

I have a set of Coralife 260 watt fluoresents on my 55. I have been using the Coralife lights for over a year now and my tank is always looking good.

I have been on the debate of whether or not I should go the route of MH lights. Im not keeping anything but soft corals in my tanks, other than the coral that came on my LR. MH are expensive and I would be afraid of the heat and having to purchase a chiller on top of everything else I have spent.
 
will be using 2 - 250 and 1 - 175 mh, 2 sets of hamilton 95watt flour, and two single flour 6500 k on a 150. tank dry and not yet completed. all lighting equipment bought except the 6500 k retro kits. hood will be ventilated with 4 3" ice cap fans. hood is fully enclosed and is size of tank but is 2 feet high with 3 front access doors to match bottom cabinet. previous system 125 reef with custom sea life 96 watt 10000 k and atinic flour in vented light hood. never was pleased with the results, but, had some very good success with soft corals and gorgonians. hope this helps.
 
There are some very nice assembled MH and flor fixtures combos available with fan cooled light hood i.e. apualight pro HQI, reefstar, ocean light, coralife, reef optix, to name just a few. I would brouse the internet under aquaium lighting and you will see quite a few subjects and outlets. I'm using custom sea life pendants because I got a close out and purchased 3 years of bulbs at same time. I prefer a 12 or 14K MH with an atinic o3 and a 6500 k flour for a full combination system. some of the manufactures above are not combos but you get the idea. I like the german bulbs if that helps. I dont have a specific site or light setup as I will replace my system in three years with blue wave ballasts type Iv electronic and reevaluate the bulbs at that time. Lighting system MH full fixture setup out of box will cost you 600 to 900 dollars, retrofit will cost you about 500 tops. hope something here helps.
 
I currently have a bluewave mh setup of 2 150 de bulbs with lowprofile reflectors and a icecap 630 driving two 110 watt actinic bulbs(uri).All housed on a 6 inch wooden canopy.The reflectors are on top, with openings cut into the wooden canopy ,so the bulbs are 8 inches above the surface of the water.The vho actinics are housed inside the canopy.
 
nice setup billm. when I upgrade I want to go to dimmable MH units. gee i'm not even set up yet and already upgrading ha.
 
Well I took the big leap and finally bought me a MH light from coralife. Its a nice light with 2 fans, 2 150 watt MH lights, 2 96 watt actinic lights and 3 blue led lights. It came with mounting legs also. Nice case and the ballasts are external to keep the weight down. They really put some thought into this lighting system.

Anyways thought I would share my new toy with everyone.
 
nice choice chris. let us know how it all works out for you. I will be starting on my light set up next couple of weeks, installation that is. need to retrofit canopy to install so looking forward to it. anyway, you made a great choice. hope you like it. will make big difference. congrats.
 
for the light sytem you have choosen you obviously do not need a hood, all that counts is that you supply the needed light intensity, spectrum, and duration. actually without a canopy you will not heat up as much and get better evaporation. looks great. give feed back when you have a chance to evaluate. good luck.
 
I put a RODI unit on my tank with a float switch so when the water level gets to low the tank is automatical filled back to the right level. I was tired of adding a gallon or more a day. I love the light so far. I have a leather coral that is sticking out like crazy now.
 
I have 2 icecap 175w Mh and 1 660 icecap with 4 110 VHO 2 sun 2 blue.. and 2 6 inch fans I set up on the canopy to keep it all cool..
 
nice setup Vixtran. hey chris let us know how that light set up works for you sounds like the initial feed back is positive. I think you will like it long term.
 
Man oh man the corals are standing out like I have never seen, the colors on the LR are brighter than ever. MH is the way to go, I figure I went from 260 watts to 492 watts, it was worth the $700 all the way.

As far as the light itself I think coralife makes a nice product, the built in leds are cool. I also bought a ceiling mount kit which I have yet to install but thats my next project.
 
glad to hear your lights are working out great for you . say chris, I still am not able to figure out how to open the pictures. i see the entry with the picture identification but dont know how to open. need help.
 
This I don't understand, can you give me a specific topic that its doing it to you in. All pictures that are attached as a file should automatically open up and display inline. I may have a permission wrong so a topic name or the link to the post would help. Thanks!
 
Ive got a metal halide light setup in my hood with some 80mm case fans keeping it cool. i found the lamps in the back of my pc shop. sold 3 on ebay and still got 4 more.
 
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