lighting for frag tank?

[nater]

i am going to be in possession of a frag tank , 24L X 16W X 7H . I want to use this to grow out my chalices , zoo's , and paly's. what do you think i should go with for lighting on a tank a this size? let me know what you all think. i currently have them in my 90 gallon display tank under 2X150 mh with t5 supplementing. thanks

 

[nater]

anyone with suggestions? should i stick with mh or go t5?

 

[nater]

nobody with any suggestions for me

 

[Pizzapro83]

I would go with a 250 mh and power brite for atnics. Thats what I have on mine.

 

[macawmagic]

I'd say a 150 halide. it's only 7" deep. my guess is there will be about 4-5 inches of water aka you won't need much light to penetrate.

 

[nater]

you grow sps in there as well? i might want to use it for sps, but i think i mainly want to keep chalices and paly/zoos. i guess i could get away with that since it is a wide tank

 

[macawmagic]

you'll deff be able to grow sps under a 150 halide. there's people that use 150 halides on like 75 gallon tanks!!!

If it were me...I'd get a nice DE lumenarc setup and run a 150 de radium inside.

 

[rosebud161616]

150w seems like a lot for 7". You might even be able to use a 70w. Or go T5 to be able to reduce your lighting yet keep it constant across the whole tank.

 

[fatcasey]

I have a 27x17x10 and have a 4x24w T5 on it. Alittle more efficient, less heat, and I've got good growth

 

[nater]

thats what i'm thinking. maybe even a 4 bulb t5 ? i may want to keep an sps or so in there possibly, but i have so much room for that in my display tank. i want to concentrate the attention to my high end chalices , instead of having a frag rack in my display. figure it would be good for feeding and such.

 

[nater]

i like the idea of the t5 for heat purposes. i also like the mh for growth. i will most likely build a canopy to house it for aesthetic purposes. i like the 150 idea with 20k because it will mimic my display tank. i wish i had the extra 3 inchs like your frag tank fatcasey.

 

[nater]

fatcasey do you have a picture of your setup ? love to see it

 

[CookieJar]

I'd go for T5 also, which is what I use for my frag tank. I'm not into SPS though, and with T5s I have a lot of bulb/ color options which I like.

 

[JR's Reef]

If not growing SPS I would do T5s. I get the best colors out of my chalices and zoas from T5s. I also get around the same growth as MH a few grow faster and a few grow slower but all in all the same if not better.

 

[rosebud161616]

Shouldn't have any problems with SPS at 7" under a 4x T5 light.

 

[fatcasey]

Should have been past tense, it was an old frag tank. It will soon be resurrected though, waiting on a new stand next week or so, then I could post a few pics.
Its also not much of a tank really, just a polyethylene box.

 

[nater]

hehe , got ya. i found a guy who builds them. it's acrylic with sweet over flow box and brace. building a stand for it. now i'm just have to make my mind up on lighting and how to plum it into my system.

 

[fatcasey]

nice, Im goina have to make the upgrade to acrylic some day too. I got a deal on a stainless steal stand, so now I gladly have to set the tank up. I would have to say go T5 though, I had the tank set up before with a 4x24 and everything grew really well, and I was keeping mainly acros.

 

[nater]

thanks for the feedback. i think i will be going with the t5 , just to see how they are. i have mh , so i think i want to give it a try. just don't know if my budget will support it. we'll see

 

[eastonreef]

i have a 6 bulb nova extreme pro on my 30 gallon frag tank.... i have everything from acans , chalices , lobo's and several sps.... lots of color and plenty of growth...
you be the judge

i used to have mh's on my 125gl but switched to the nep 12 bulb over a year ago and am very happy with it....