Lighting question - Is this way overkill?

S

silveroak

Premium Member
So I am looking for lighting for my 100 Gallon tank (48x18x27) and I want to only buy lighting once, and be able to do WHATEVER I want in the tank. I am looking at 2 250W 15K MH HQI and 4 54W T5 lamps for actinic supplementation. Will this work?

I want to be able to have any coral that strikes my fancy, anemones if I decide to go that route, Clams if I want, whatever. I just really don't want to limit myself at all. I want to be able to put anything anywhere in my tank, and just use the LR to shade if it needs lower light.

I appreciate any help that you can give!
 
I haven't been keeping a reef tank for long, but I have researched the living daylights out of aquarium lighting!! Looks like a solid plan to me. Should have plenty of wattage and PAR to get the lumens to where you need it. I am assuming your aquarium depth from top to bottom is 27 inches?
If I could add one thing, just my humble opinion. It might be beneficial to change up your MH spectrum every once and a while. Like mix a 10k with 15k, or a 12k with a 15k you catch my drift. Even to go as far as using mixes of actinics, like 420nm and 460nm.
Enjoy your new set-up!!
 
As important the lights are to keeping the animals you want to put into your aquarium, water flow is as important and maybe more so. The more light you have, the greater the respiration, which means more water movement you need to replace the Co2 and O2 in the water,( gas exchange). You can add too much light and not enough flow and it will shut down the corals. Your proposed lighting seems appropriate, though the kelvin of the bulbs is a personal taste and it depends on the brand bulb. I would think you also could give up 108 watts of the t-5s for the actinic supplementation, 108 watts should be enough. Good luck and don't forget the flow.
 
@Rick wrote:
As important the lights are to keeping the animals you want to put into your aquarium said:
I run 2 250W and 108W of T5's on a 48" 105 gallon tank. I'm mainly into SPS but have flexible zones in the tank for lower light corals. But water movement is important, I use Tunze pumps just because I want quite a bit of circulation in the tank.
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Silveroak - what is the depth of the tank? 150w is good up to about 20" deep, 250w to 25ish", 400w for 30", etc...
 
@DheereCrossing wrote:
Silveroak - what is the depth of the tank? 150w is good up to about 20" deep said:
Assuming that I put a 2" sand bed in, and fill it to the top of the frame lip, it would be about 23.5". But again, I don't want to limit myself on anything, including the livestick that I keep, so I am considering a 3 to 4" sandbed, incase I get something that needs to dig.

Also, I am planning to use 3 koralia 4's for circulation to start with. This tank doesn't have a sump yet, so I will have to do most of the circulation with powerheads. Plan is to add a sump, but I have to do some costly modification of the cabinet before I do, so it will have to come later. (like 6 months to a year)
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im running 2x250w phoenix 14ks with PFO dual ballast 2 36" VHO super actinic on an Icecap 430 on a 72gal bowfront and i like it. SPS dont mind being up at the top get good growth. though i keep a frag rack low in the tank to acclimate the new corals i buy to the light. Your not to far from me your welcome to check out my tank if you like. Also the quality of your MH reflector also plays a big role on how much light actually makes it to the tank
 
@DheereCrossing wrote:
Silveroak - what is the depth of the tank? 150w is good up to about 20" deep said:
This is not true. I have seen Bygkid's tank (29" deep) and he uses 150W in his tank. his tank is mainly SPS as well. SPS high and low. All his corals look great too. He is running Phoenix 14K DE bulbs. I am using 250W on my 29" deep 150 gallon and everything is fine. No need for 400W. Quality reflectors (Lumenarc or Lumenbrights) can drastically improve performance of light output, and in most cases 400W bulbs are not needed. Save your money and invest in quality reflectors (Lumenbright or Lumenarc) and use 250W (wide range of bulb selection) bulbs.
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Actually Derek - I agree completely. I guess the 'rule of thumb' I suggested above was really before the Lumen*** reflectors came out. A quality reflector can make a lot of difference.
 
That light set up would work really well.

Now to repeat what Rick said: Water flow is VERY important. So is water quality!

The holy trinity of coral husbandry is Good Light, Good Flow, Good water quality.

Now good luck.... I know how much that fixture costs and I don't envy you! :lol:
 
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