What's a good height and width...

[yote]

I think the pendents would do better on that size tank.Because like Dustin said,you can hang them closer together and elliminate the shadow effect between the lights.

 

[Brat]

good call yote and dustin and light I loved the idea of having brighter light in the middle and then on the sides having lower light. That will look nice. You guys are truly amazing!

 

[RyanG]

Thats the lighting set up Im doing on my 180 mine will be mogul socket vs HQI. You will have to do your research when it comes time for picking your lights though. Same bulb different wattage different color, different type ballast different color. I will be using Reeflux 12Ks on the 400 with the electronic ballast. the 250s will be reeflux 10k on magnetic ballasts to get the same coloration. At least thats what i was told it would do. Thats what Im going to start out with.

 

[lightcs4]

Ryan, Just out of curiosity, why did you go with mogul bulbs instead of HQI? My understanding is that HQI bulbs don't have to be changed as often and are more energy efficient.

 

[RyanG]

Because the reflectors and socket came free with the purchase of my tank stand and canopy, lol. 450 bucks worth of stuff just thrown in. Otherwise I would have bought the Aquatinics Constellation that Reeffreak and Piggy run.

 

[lightcs4]

OK. Thanks. I thought maybe I missed something when looking at lights.

 

[RyanG]

Nope Im just From what I have heard you want to avoid bulbs that have the igniter in the bulb fancy german bulbs that are supposed to last longer but the ignitor probe is crappy.

 

[Brat]

I'm thinking about just going with photon plus as my main fixture and then buy 4 MH pendants to cover the missing foot of shadow or go with my original plan if I can afford the original. I just want the inhabitants to be happy and not need a clam for therapy.

ETA: Wait, could I just do 2 metal halide pendants every two feet and then a T-5 fixture in between the pendants?

 

[dustin_P74]

that could work

 

[yote]

Or run T-5s across the front and back along the length of the tank,with the pendents hanging every 24"

 

[Brat]

how many T-5's would I need?

ETA: I could put 4 x 48 inch 6x54W Sunlight Supply Tek Light High Output Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures and in between those put the MH's. The Sunlight Tek is wide enough to allow a MH pendant in between two fixtures.

 

[yote]

I think I would retro it to use 4x48" bulbs in the front and 4 for the back.
I think it would give more even light coverage.

 

[Brat]

they got it in 4x48 too. :) but now my watts per gal. is decreasing. to about 5 watts per gal. Me want 7 or 8 watts for a few SPS corals or will the two 400 watts MH in the middle be fine for SPS?

 

[dustin_P74]

with MH you dont really need to worry about watts per gallon

 

[Bifferwine]

Actually, it's T5s that you don't have to worry about watts per gallon. MH tend to follow the watts per gallon rule pretty well, whereas T5s don't.

 

[Brat]

why don't T's follow watts per gallon? Are they like 3-4 watts per gallon instead?

 

[Bifferwine]

T5s put out more lumens per watt, compared to other lights. So you get more output per watt of electricity used.

 

[Brat]

awesome!

 

[Bifferwine]

Or PAR (photosynthetically active radiation), or something, or blah blah blah, I don't really know... :cry:

 

[RyanG]

Brat you will save a huge sum of money if you use a DIY retrofit kit for the T5s, those fixtures are spendy compared to DIY.