lighting a 180 with a canopy

[riche]

Ok

I'm looking for help/suggestions

I have narrowed it down to doing t-5/led

This will be a mixed reef 180 6x2x2

The supplies I have will allow me to use 36" t-5 bulbs and the leds are ecoxotic led stunner strips(more for the blue shimmer)

My question is how high should I build the canopy and should I do 3-36" t-5 on the left and 3 36" t-5 on the right?


Im hoping to go no higher then 12" total due to that is the size of the wood I can get that's precut 1x12's

I have multiple fans I can add thru out the canopy top and sides.


I looking to get the best lighting possible and I know there are tons of personal choices, I'm just looking for growth and color from the corals with out it looking like it is fake.

Any advice and pictures would be awesome

Rich

 

[redfishbluefish]

Unless you are going with low light corals, I don't believe you'll have enough light. If you want LED/T5 combo, I'd go with those T5's (actually I'd use three or four, 4 foot bulbs), but now with three 120W LED fixtures. In my opinion Stunner Strips don't give you the bang for the buck. Too much money for a little bit of light.

 

[Trex]

I have a canopy over my 210. Ended up going with an ATI 8*80 T5 fixture. It is hanging within the canopy.

The hangers I used,

Top -- they are now covered with wood blocks that still need to be stained.

Can get some updated pictures tonight (( with the canopy open too )), if you want.

 

[riche]

So 6 total 3ft t-5's wont be enough?

Should I use 8 total 4 on each side? This is a retro fit and I have 3ft reflectors

the leds were not for growing more for suppliment

And any canopy pictures would be great

 

[4FordFamily]

I have three chinese (Aquastar or aquamax or something) black LED boxes. They're great. Only 100 each shipped. You can control blues/greens/purples separately from whites/reds so you can effectively change the color temperature and intensity of total light.

 

[Trex]

Took a few pictures to better show the ATI fixture hanging within the canopy;

Closed

Open,

The wood blocks that I still need to sand and stain,

 

[Kworker]

Attached mine right onto the canopy, I had 5 led fixtures so used them. But I was going to add two 60" t5s along with the 3 fixtures I had at the time. I would definitely look into the 60" LET t5 retrofit kit. Avoid 6 36" bulbs to replace every 8 months or so..

 

[riche]

If I go with 60" t-5, how many would I need? 2 or 3?

 

[Trex]

Is this for a fish only or reef?

2 or 3 80 watt tubes will work for a fish only, but that is it. For a reef tank, that wouldn't be enough. My fixture is 60 inches, and has 8 bulbs.

 

[Kworker]

If I go with 60" t-5, how many would I need? 2 or 3?

Depends how many LEDs you do.. I was running the 3 leds with a 48" two lamp deep blue fixture angled to supplement some light and it worked well. Depends entirely on which you want to utilize more.

Personally If I was doing it over, id go 8 t5 retro and retrofit in a strip of mostly blue and a few whites for shimmer or simply just a reefbrite.

LEDs are fun to play with but the shadows you get from them are a pain. Plus, nothing beats the ATI blue+ bulb IMO, it's color is my favorite.

 

[riche]

I want to stick with the 36" bulbs because I have the reflectors and ballast. I know bulbs are going to cost money to replace but I already have everything would just need to buy more bulbs.

So with that being said, how many 3ft bulbs should I do per-side of the 6ft canopy?

I also have the option of using my 48" 4 bulb t-5 fixture that has dual 250 watt mh that I can hang in the canopy and then add a few 36" t-5's and then the leds

 

[Trex]

What do you plan on keeping in this tank?

 

[luke33]

If your looking at a reef tank with sps your going to need 16 - 36" t5's imo. Your better off selling what you have and going with 8 - 60" t5s. Bulb replacement would suck on 16 bulb's. If you are stuck with the idea of t5's.

 

[riche]

I want a mixed reef, some sps.

I was given some advise on another forum, I have a 48" 4 bulb t-5 fixture with dual 250 watt mh fixture

The guy said to use that, and then add some lights on the sides to give full coverage.(24" t-5's)

If I go that route, I can then put the leds I have in the frt of the canopy

I'm going to build the frame of the canopy today and when the leds get here tomorrow I can lay them out and decided which way to go.

I'm not opposed to going with 60" bulbs, I can use the reflectors, just have to trim them and butt them up together.

I will get the canopy frame built, place it on the tank and take some pictures

 

[thejuggernaut]

You are going to need 16 3' T5s to make that well lit. Bulb pricing doesn't increase much when you increase size. So effectively you are doubling the price by running 16 bulbs instead of 8. I would either switch to 5' bulbs, go all LED (not my best choice) or go to MH. MH is the most expensive.