Weekly Discussion - Lighting; what the hell?

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Lighting; what the hell?

Nothing causes more confusion and consternation in this hobby than lighting. How much, what kind, what brand, how long to leave it on, moon lighting? Not only do the choices seem overwhelming, but the stuff is expensive.
What kind of light do you run? Why? Are you happy with your current set up? Any advice for someone looking to light a reef?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm happy with my lights. But then again I only have nanos. I have the same light setup on both tanks.

CSL 2x32 PC. On my 15 gallon, I have 1 blue and 1 10k daylight. On my 7 gal bowfront, I have a 50/50. The other lamp I was going to put over my hang on refug, but never gotten around to it.

I am currently planing a 46 gall on bowfront. I'm thinking 2- 175 or 250w MH, and either using my current PC's or going actinic. It all depends if I can sell my current setups.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Currently I'm running a 75 gallon tank with 2 x 175w MH (6500K) and 2 x 96w VHO (one full actinic, one 50/50).

Honestly, I'm still very undecided about my lighting setup, and lighting in general. I mean, I'm having coral growth and my anemone has never been happier, but my bulbs are all 2+ years old. 8O I realize that there is spectrum shift, especially in MH, past 6 months or so, but my results (at least IME) show that that may not be such a big deal. I read an article somewhere a year or so ago that showed that lighting intensity is more important than lighting spectrum. Indeed, the last time I changed bulbs, I got these new ones in there to replace some plain old $20 home-depot metal halide bulbs that were around 4000K. They were yellow as lemons when they lit the tank, but in that time my gigantea anemone went from the size of a teacup saucer to over 16" across (considering added 'girth' it basically increased in size about tenfold).

I know my experiences here are going against the grain, but over my years in the hobby, I've really gone full-circle, starting with a barebones FO system with an air-driven skimmer to a tricked out reef with new lighting and and tons of test-kits and additives, and finally come back to the KISS method. I change water maybe once every six months, rarely if ever replace bulbs, never check water chemistry (I can go months without even testing salinity), and the tank is flourishing. ::shrug:: I guess it shows beyond doubt that there are any number of ways to successfullly keep a tank. I keep in the forefront of my decisions the fact that my goal is to keep the animals in my system happy and healthy, so rather than check water parameters and try to micromanage my system, I watch the animals. When my anemone shrinks up for more than a day or so, I test nitrates, maybe do a 20gal water change. When my ricordea are looking wilted, I wipe the salt creep off of my bulbs before they fire up for the day. When my fish start to pale a bit, I change their feeding regimen.

Anyway, to drag this back to the topic at hand, I really think the next big evolution in reefkeeping will be LED lights. I read a great article in Popular Mechanics awhile back that gave some great information about the coming LED phenomenon. I'll see if I can dig it up...


Cheers,
John

 

[Anonymous]

I have 2 by 175 10K MH and 2 by 110 VHO Actinics over my 75. I really like the look of this combination. I wish I had 250's instead of 175W's. I am afraid that the extra heat produced by thye 250's would heat the water too much. I don't have a chiller and don't want to have to get one.

I may try 250's one day if I happen upon a couple of free ballasts. Maybe someone could give me their old bulbs so that I could try it out for a couple of days without wasting allot of money. Or I could just try some cheapy bulbs for testing purposes.

Bottom line IMO is the more light you have the more growth you'll get. Growing animals equals healthy animals.

Louey

Louey

 

[liquid]

LED's: There was an "infomercial" at IMAC about some of the new LED technology that's slowly making it's way into the hobby. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the talk but I did get to see a tank lit by LED's while I was there. I think the key is going to be packing enough LED's into the canopy w/o making it cost prohibitive. They're pretty darned bright, but you still do need a fair amount of them to light a reef tank effectively (based on visual observation only).

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

I have 2x175 MH and 2x96 pc actinics over my 120 gal. I have a lot of sps that are growing well and a big hadonni anemone that has been doing well for a year and a half with weekly (sometimes twice weekly) feedings.

My feeling is that my setup is enough for the inverts' health but is not enough to maintain the pastel shades some corals have. 2x250 or x400 MH would probably kick me into that territory.

 

[Anonymous]

LED's: There was an "infomercial" at IMAC about some of the new LED technology that's slowly making it's way into the hobby. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the talk but I did get to see a tank lit by LED's while I was there. I think the key is going to be packing enough LED's into the canopy w/o making it cost prohibitive. They're pretty darned bright, but you still do need a fair amount of them to light a reef tank effectively (based on visual observation only).

Shane

That's basically the gist of that PM article (which will be available online in the 2nd week of May--I'll post as soon as it comes up)--that right now the technology is still evoloving for the white-light LEDs, but within 5 years or so (If I remember the article correctly), something like 25% of the lighting production will be switching over to white LEDs. They're supposedly able to mimic the spectrum more accurately, naturally, and w/o spectrum-shift than any current lighting. So ::shrug:: we'll see!

 

[Anonymous]

I am currently running 3 x 250 DE pendants (2 10000K one 20000K) and 2 48 inch actinic vho's over my 150 (5 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet). The lighting is good, but I am going to be adding another 250 20K to the system, mainly because I have almost all of the equipment laying around, but also because I like the bluer light. I would run all 20 K but the par is just not good enough.

 

[liquid]

Right now I'm running 1x250 watt PFO ballast with an Iwasaki bulb over my 38 gal tank (1' front to back, 3' long, 22" tall). Previously, I was running an additional 2x95 watt VHO actinic over the tank but I ended up shutting them down just to see what kind of effect it had on the tank as a whole. The tank doesn't look as blue anymore, but IMHO it looks more realistic in the way of coloration. For moonlighting, I was running nothing more than a 7 watt blue Christmas tree bulb in a nightlight fixture.

On the upcoming tank (4'x2'x16" tall) I plan to run 1x250 watt PFO ballast w/ an Iwasaki bulb. I will be using a Diamondlight Lumearc III reflector and the entire thing will be suspended over the tank and run with a Light Rail so that I only need to run one halide over the setup. The light rail will oscillate the reflector back and forth across the tank every minute or so, so the entire tank will be lit. In addition, I plan to somehow mount a dual set of cold cathode bulbs ($15 @ Walmart in the automotive section) on the reflector for moonlight simulation at night. I'll probably somehow use the VHO setup to power either a refugium or ATS or both. Dunno yet on that part.

Shane

 

[Rich-n-poor]

originally ran 2X55 watt pc's over a 37 gallon for about 18 months (maybe I should change my bulbs) was happy with this setup. I had no problem keeping all softies and some LPS

I added a scrap 20 watt 50/50 when i was bored one night. I just tore it apart rewired it and mounted it into canopy.

I was going to order new bulbs, but there is basically only $40 difference in the price of the bulbs and a new retro kit so I will probably go 4X55 watt pc.

i think this to be an ideal setup for 20, 29, and 37 gallon tanks all of which have the sam4e footprint.

My problem is I need a bigger tank, my corals have no more room to expand and im really not decided on a tank or lighting yet.

rich

 

[mkirda]

LED's: They're pretty darned bright, but you still do need a fair amount of them to light a reef tank effectively (based on visual observation only).

You cannot trust just visual, Shane...

At 1", they were about as bright as a 400W MH bulb at 30-34". IOW, they produce enough light for a Tridacna clam at 1". Not bad for a 'bulb' that is maybe 2W...

However, that nano you saw... It actually was not very bright. You could keep mushrooms in it. I think Tullio would need to triple the number of bulbs to keep LPS. Or quadruple...

I wish I had the same tank with a CF fixture in it to compare the numbers.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[danmhippo]

I have used various lightings but used MH the longest. Overall, I'd say I liked the MH's output and am satisfied with the result.

I had 2x 400W 20000K. But if I were to do it over again, I would probably choose 250W instead. I've heard 250W out put is as good as 400W according to many surveys.

 

[liquid]

You cannot trust just visual, Shane...

Yes, but I didn't want to give away any data that you took on Tullio's nano, which is why I mentioned visual only... :wink: It was a pretty interesting tank none-the-less.

Shane

 

[mkirda]

You cannot trust just visual, Shane...

Yes, but I didn't want to give away any data that you took on Tullio's nano, which is why I mentioned visual only... :wink: It was a pretty interesting tank none-the-less.

Shane

You have any dealings with Tullio?
I e-mailed him on Monday and haven't heard anything since.

Regards.
Mike Kirda

 

[reefrancher]

Re: Tullio getting back to you. There is a lighting show in NY this week. I'm pretty sure he's there.

Steve

PS Mike check out my nano with LED's: http://www.reefrancher.com/steve/nano/

 

[LA-Lawman]

I have a combo hood from hamilton. 2 14k 175w halides. 2 -55w 6500k and 2 55w coralife actinics....

I am gonna upgrade them to 250w's I like the 175 but think i could use the xtra punching power...

 

[Anonymous]

Do the LEDS give a shimmer effect like the halides?

 

[Mouse]

Nobody got any opinions/veiws on the T5's, i know LED's are on the horison, but the T5's are here now. Ive seen the add's, heard the hype, now i wanna know the truth.

 

[reefrancher]

Do the LEDS give a shimmer effect like the halides?

Yes, they produce the shimmer effect and look good doing it

Like Kirda says above they have great par at 1". I'm not so sure about what their giving off 6 or 12 inches below the surfave. On my nano I started out with 2 x 1w for the first month and could tell from the zoanthids and mushroom that it wasn't enough so I jacked it up to 5 x 1w the second month. I'm in month three now and I'm going to add 2 x 5w to it and see if I can get some growth from the little digitata frags. Only then will I be satisfied.

Steve

 

[mkirda]

Nobody got any opinions/veiws on the T5's, i know LED's are on the horison, but the T5's are here now. Ive seen the add's, heard the hype, now i wanna know the truth.

I have some data on them. I am waiting on Brad to send me the bulb data.

You'll have to wait a short bit for the write-up...

Regards.
Mike Kirda