Lighting for 44" tall reef

[bigreefnutt]

Currently designing a reef setup for a client where the reef tank will be 88"length x 30" width x 44" Tall. I have designed many tanks but never one of this size. Just wondering what would your recommendations be for a tank of this height. Looking to be a mixed reef

 

[Montiman]

Currently designing a reef setup for a client where the reef tank will be 88"length x 30" width x 44" Tall. I have designed many tanks but never one of this size. Just wondering what would your recommendations be for a tank of this height. Looking to be a mixed reef

The owner of a local service company in my area has a reef tank with a similar height lit by A360NEs and he is very happy. He uses a whole lot of them though like at least 10. My only experience with a reef tank that depth was a 96x48x48 that was in the LFS I used to work at. We used 4 400watt halides with supplemental t5s and grew a nice mixed reef. I wouldn’t rule out halides for a tank of that size. Often when the tank is this big there are no energy savings with LEDs and the heat issues don’t matter. A good example is Sanjays tank. He used to light it with 3 400 watt halides but now uses 8 radion pros at 100% at 180 watts each that is 1440 watts which is actually more power than the halides were.

 

[rtparty]

Halides with reflectors that focus more on depth penetration than spread. Probably going to have to be 400w but 250s MIGHT work depending on placement of corals

 

[Breadman03]

No personal experience, but I would probably run 3x400 watt halides with appropriate reflectors and augments with some LED's if sunrise/sunset/moonlighting is desired.

 

[bigreefnutt]

I was hoping not to hear halide but that may have to be an option

 

[Montiman]

I was hoping not to hear halide but that may have to be an option

Is there a reason for not wanting halides? I personally have always liked halides though of the 5 tanks I have now none use them. The only reasons I didn’t like halides were the heat and electricity but in this case I don’t think either will be an issue.

 

[bigreefnutt]

Its an option that I will pass along to the client. I am ok with them. Just was hoping to go differently. I was thinking about the hybrid lights.

 

[lbacha]

Orphek atlantik v4's come in a narrow lense setup for tanks over 40" deep. They also have a atlantik pendant for even deeper tabks

 

[bigreefnutt]

Now there is what I was looking for

 

[lbacha]

Now there is what I was looking for

I have the v4 it is a very nice light, even spread over a big area (not sure how the spread will work with the narrow lenses) and so far it has been a breeze to set up and use

 

[jda]

Halide is your friend here. Seriously. The heat will be a good thing to keep the tank warm - heating is a huge cost in large tanks in the North.

The reflectors and low number of fixtures are also your friend. Put a few T5s on there for dusk/dawn and call it a day.

You will not find anything cheaper to cover the entire area than MH. I would do 250w Radiums on m80 ballasts with Lumen Max pendants which really penetrate. I would use 4 of the MH and a pair of 48" T5s on either side. 1200ish watts is not bad for a tank this size.

 

[bigreefnutt]

looking at things I may go part LED and part Halide

 

[mtraylor]

I would probably go 400watt MH's pendants with t5/led supplement. JMO. That is a deep tank.