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Lighting concerns for aquarium

Pianotips@hotmail.com

Pianotips@hotmail.com

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After doing alot of research on the opinions of different people about proper aquarium lighting. I have a headache trying to understand what I need in terms of lighting.

Here is what I have:

Going from advice from some reefers that i bought my equipment from I went all Metal Halides. I currently have 3 MHs running 8 hours a day (spread out during a 12 hour time) on my 135 gal tank. They are 2x250s watts and 1 x400 watt. All the ballasts are running 20k bulbs. On my 55 gallon again I am running 3x175w Mh's 20k bulbs.

After some reading:
I am thinking about putting in 2x400s and using t12 or a t5 vho to substitute some of the power in light for the 135 gallon. All the coral are on one side of the tank (keeping the RBTAs away from the coral). This gives me more control over some of where the light and how much. On the 55 gallon the coral are spread out. I was thinking of taking down the 3x 175s and putting in a 250 mh HQI and using t5/t12 bulbs to supplement the lighting.

The Final consideration. I have two tanks .. and looking at how the power bill jumped almost $200. I need to rethink the lighting so i can sustain them both ><

Now the question is:
Looking at all those t5s t12s and etc.. I was thinking about putting t5s or t12's on an icecap ballst to replace some of the metal halides. or should I use t12 vhos? Can I run a single 400 watt mH and then 4xt5s? Should I be running both? 400watt mh and 4 50/50 bulbs? T12 ho has 20k and true antic bulbs for real cheap @40watts or 80watts. T12 vs t5? Another possibility is Sun Tubes.. we seem to get alot of sunshine in the bay.. Can I use skylights and t5/t12's as a supplement?

Ugh i am getting cross eyed trying to piece this together... Some experience and advice from other reefers would be much appreciated.
 
What type of corals are we talking about? SPS? LPS? Softies?

What are the actual tank dimensions you're working with? 2x400w is a LOT of light for a 135g tank. I think you can probably save some PG&E cash by going to much shorter light cycles if you really are that interested in keeping up with that intensity.

Some of my examples:
24" deep tank (120g), at one point I kept 4x54w t5s on for roughly 12 hours a day I had RBTA as well as soft corals in this tank. Switched the lighting to a couple 175w MH bulbs and 2-T5s, T5s are on 10hours or so a day, MH bulbs are on for 4 hours only. Again same corals and setup, everything is fine IMO (been running for a while like this).

18" deep tank - SPS, kept 2-250w halides on for 8hours a day similar to you, switched over to a 24" tank still all stony corals (4x3 footprint), 2-54w T5s on 11hours, 2 more on 8 hours, 2-250w halides on 5.5 hours. Things have never looked better.

TO try and answer your questions, Get an idea for the footprint your MH reflector(s) will be over your tank, you totally can drop your lighting to 250watts instead of those 400s without much pain. I wouldn't leave them on very often, cram some T5s in there as you can, use those as your primary lighting (length of day wise), then your halides for that "noon-time sun is high in the sky" blast of light. Worried about power? Stick with T5s instead of the VHOs.

Suntubes? There's a thread in the SPS forum over at RC where a guy did the conversion (a few of them actually), but he's Texas, I don't know anyone in this climate who made the switch, not to say I haven't thought about it :D
 
For the coral types:

I have an eclectic mix of corals.. Soft, stony, lps, sps....

For the depth its 24" and 18" for the 135 and 55 gallons.

T5s? Not sure about the footprints of the MH.. I am using those cheap 20 something batwings to reflect light with reflective material all over the hood. The large tank is 6' wide.

So I should add some t5's, take down the 400 ,and put better reflectors on the MHs? What length and kelvin should the t5s be at?

Sun tubes are bad hunh? sigh.. they looked so eco too...
 
[quote author=Pianotips link=topic=5385.msg66818#msg66818 date=1228257357]
I am using those cheap 20 something batwings to reflect light with reflective material all over the hood.
[/quote]


I wouldn't be surprised if some lumenarcs substantially increase your light.

Good reflectors can make a huge difference. HUGE.
 
[quote author=dswong01 link=topic=5385.msg66816#msg66816 date=1228255447]
You might also want to use like a more efficeint reflector with better light spread pattern like a lumenarc.
[/quote]

+1
 
oki.. Thanks for the tip on the reflector..Im going to see about getting one.. One another note.. So after I put the reflectors in ... Should I drop a few MHs? Im thinking, as sfsuphysics suggested, of putting in a few t5s or t12s to offset the cost oh the mh. Use them all day and then the mhs doe a few hours. Is that a good plan?
 
Well my thinking on lighting might be different than others, and I am by no means correct (but the other side of it is neither are they ;)). For me, the reefs are not uniformly lit throughout the day, there are corals on the "backside" of structures and what not, but because our lights don't move (well except Jeremy's :D) there's no need to blast them with light throughout the day. Light yes, super intense light? No. Which is why I do 4-6 hours max on the halides.
 
A 135 is a pretty tall tank, you might consider switching out the 400 for a 250 to cut down on the power consumption. Two Lumenarcs could cut it though, however the light may not be too even.
 
So, if the tank is only 18" deep it is my understanding that a 400W MH is somewhat useless. Sure you'll get higher lumens but at a level that could actually be too high at the surface unless they were raised off the tank a good height.

If it were me and I was not worried about losing the "shimmer" of MH then I'd just go straight T5. Right now I'm trying out a semi-unique MH/T5 idea for my lighting. It is unique in that most of my light is coming from T5s while the MH is supplementing for the shimmer effect.
 
[quote author=Dyngoe link=topic=5385.msg66863#msg66863 date=1228285187]
It is unique in that most of my light is coming from T5s while the MH is supplementing for the shimmer effect.
[/quote]

T5's can produce your "shimmer" effect too~! -just depends on your bulb configuration and the manufactures you choose~!
 
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