Technical Lighting question

SarahSmile

SarahSmile

:)
Hi everyone,
Well, I'm upgrading. So I'm looking at the 65 gallon Red Sea Max. I love the look of it and the size is about right. Now, if I try to set this style up on my own and get a tank with a hood can I just pop out the standard lights from the hood and add better ones? Or is this a whole ballast, electricity thing and they wouldn't be compatible? Like, on petsmart.com they have some nice tank and am wondering how difficult it is to make those work for my corals.
Any one have any experience?

Thanks!
 
I'm confused.
Are you trying to convert the lighting in the red sea max to something else?
Or are you just going for the red sea max look by buying a tank and hood that kind of looks like the red sea max?
 
I'm just trying to set up this style of tank on my own.
So if I get a tank with a hood with cruddy lights can I pop out the lights and add better bulbs.
 
I'd advise against it unless you have at least basic knowledge of electrical wiring.
Tanks don't usually do well in burned houses.
 
yote said:
I'd advise against it unless you have at least basic knowledge of electrical wiring.
Tanks don't usually do well in burned houses.
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO

If all you want to do is replace the bulbs then yes. If you are trying to upgrade to MH or something completely different, then no, like Yote said.
 
If you are going to set up a tank on your own, you just want to start off buying a decent light fixture that will fit into whatever hood you have. And by "hood", i'm talking about a large wooden box that sits over the tank.

If you don't have the skill set yourself, you can probably find someone in your area who can build a stand and hood for you. Either through your LFS, your local fish group, or just find a good cabinet maker.
Remember, a hood holds in heat.
A lot of us hang our fixtures from the ceiling which keeps heat away from the water, keeping the tank cooler.
 
I was hoping some of you guys would chime in and help me out; I think it's why so many of us end up overpaying and going with the all in one tanks, I mean, really I'm supposed to deal with plumbing and electricity?? Ok, so if I get this Marineland® 60 Gallon Heartland Aquarium Ensemble - Black - Aquariums - Fish - PetSmart
or this Top Fin® 75 Gallon Aquarium Hood Combo - Aquariums - Fish - PetSmart are these systems that I could convert? Or, are these bulbs that can't be swapped out for better bulbs. I just don't know anyone who has a saltwater tank to ask...
 
fastrd400 said:
ROFLMAO

If all you want to do is replace the bulbs then yes. If you are trying to upgrade to MH or something completely different, then no, like Yote said.
Click to expand...

Nah, I'm not worried about Metal Halide, I don't have it now and have some easy corals doing great. I just want to make sure I can pop in a actinic or higher wattage daytime bulbms
 
No matter what, you can always swap out the bulbs for a better brand/different color as long as you use the same size and wattage.
 
Ok, sounds reasonable. :) I'm trying to "build" my own tank and want to make sure I don't buy something that is completely un upgradeable.
Thanks for your help guys, I am going to go get the tank and some black sand tonight!
 
IMHO, neither of those are good for saltwater.

Get a nice T5 fixture or T5/MH combo.

Do it right to start rather than buying cheap now and upgrading later. Especially if you want to keep corals.
 
Thanks Dennis, I appreciate everyone's help-My fear was that they were not good for saltwater, now, why are they not and what should I be looking for? Can I not add T5s to that hood. I think I am just getting frustrated b/c the all in one units cost a lot at once and I just don't have the know-how to put together a tank and some sort of light fixture; I don't know how I would even buy/put together a lighting fixture. It's for my living room which has insane ceilings so hanging something is totally out of the question.
I just wish someone would tell me what to buy and I would buy it :) But the plumbing is beyond me, that I cannot do. But, seriously, this is why I have been leaning to the red sea max, it's ready to go. My husband is being super awesome about the price tho so I said I would try to make my own set up for less money.
 
SarahSmile said:
I was hoping some of you guys would chime in and help me out; I think it's why so many of us end up overpaying and going with the all in one tanks, I mean, really I'm supposed to deal with plumbing and electricity?? Ok, so if I get this Marineland® 60 Gallon Heartland Aquarium Ensemble - Black - Aquariums - Fish - PetSmart
or this Top Fin® 75 Gallon Aquarium Hood Combo - Aquariums - Fish - PetSmart are these systems that I could convert? Or, are these bulbs that can't be swapped out for better bulbs. I just don't know anyone who has a saltwater tank to ask...
Click to expand...

Those are set up and sold for fresh water tanks with fake plants.They don't have either enough light or the filtration required for even a basic reef.
Those lights they come with are the cheap hoods that will give enough light to support problem algae.
 
ok. I wasn't sure since I don't have any filtration now and thought with the bigger one I could do the protein skimmer thing off the back and put some better bulbs in that hood and I'd be good since I am not going to add any more corals other than my few mushrooms and duncan. If the general consensus is that this is not possible I guess I will stick with my 14 gallon.
 
Sarah, i think you are confusing "light fixtures" and "hoods".

Those hoods you show in your links ARE light fixtures. Cheap ones meant for freshwater fish.
What you want to do is skip those all together and get something like this....
Aquarium Lighting T5 Fluorescent Light Fixture: AquaticLife T5 HO and Lunar Light Fixtures

I'm not saying to get THIS one, it was just the first that came up in my google search.

But as you can see, it's several T5 bulbs inside it's own "hood" of sorts. This can be placed over the tank just like the ones you linked to. But these will support the growth of coral because they are much stronger.

And like i said, you don't need a hood. Some fixtures are meant to hang over the tank. Check out the classifieds, I'm selling a t5/mh fixture. More than you want to spend but you'll see pics of what I'm talking about, the way it hangs from the ceiling.

I suggest you do some research on the different type of lighting available.
There are tons of choices out there for easy plug-n-play light fixtures that don't require any electrical skills. Just plug them in and you are good. ;)
 
Your idea with the skimmer would be fine and work great.It's the lighting that'll get you.
Those lights will be hard pressed to even be enough for the mushrooms.
 
thats not necessarily true as pertaining to the rsm. i had the 130 and i absolutly hated it, ran at a steady 86 degrees. and it used a specific length pc bulb, that only their company used so you couldnt upgrade...
 

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