Lighting setup advice

[Diazreeflife]

Hello Everyone!!

My tank is 24x24x48 125 gallon. I already have my two MH fixtures and now deciding on how to set up my T5's.
My MH's are on top of my canopy and I am going to install two T5 48 inch strips one on the inside front and one on the back. Should I go with 2 single bulb fixtures or 2 double bulb fixtures?

David

 

[feh]

Can you provide some more details on what your plan is? What corals are you planning to keep and how many watts are the MH fixtures? Are you planning to use th T5s for actinics?

 

[Diazreeflife]

Can you provide some more details on what your plan is? What corals are you planning to keep and how many watts are the MH fixtures? Are you planning to use th T5s for actinics?

I was planning on using 400 watt per fixture. Yes the T5 are for actinics. Also Should I use the T5 or is there a better setup with my MH fixtures? I will be keeping a fixed reef tank.

 

[Diazreeflife]

Also this maybe a dumb question but do I need a ballast for each fixture? And which ballast do you all recommend?

David

 

[Tab28]

That looks exactly like my tank. All but my color is a bit like cherry wood. I have 2 250 mh with 2 t5. I only placed 36" t5 inside. The 48" may be a bit tight to get the bulbs in and out and have enough room to work the screw end caps. I used se mh they are easy to replace bulbs. But the de will give you more room inside canopy however replacing de in a canopy that big and heavy was not worth it. I also use a double galaxy ballast. When i replace the i will do one side a lower wattage for the things like chalices, leptoseris, cyphastrea and others that i have too much light for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

That looks exactly like my tank. All but my color is a bit like cherry wood. I have 2 250 mh with 2 t5. I only placed 36" t5 inside. The 48" may be a bit tight to get the bulbs in and out and have enough room to work the screw end caps. I used se mh they are easy to replace bulbs. But the de will give you more room inside canopy however replacing de in a canopy that big and heavy was not worth it. I also use a double galaxy ballast. When i replace the i will do one side a lower wattage for the things like chalices, leptoseris, cyphastrea and others that i have too much light for.

Very good point I will definitely get 36 inch strips thank u!! Now I was thinking about starting at 2 400w MH is that to much? And with the T5's will it hurt to get two double strips or is that a waste?

Thanks

 

[Tab28]

2 400 mh is a lot of light. It all depends on what you are setting up for. I can grow acro at more than the top 2/3 of my tank. I can not place scolly, chalice, plates or many lps on the sand bed without some sort of overhead object to make a shadow area. I can easily grow maxima clams on my bed. So the 250 more than adds enough for my needs.

Will you be doing de or se mh? If de you will have more room on either side of the light fixture. The draw back is replacing the bulbs. They require a sturdy surface to apply even pressure of the ends in order to install. This is hard to do with canopy on tank. The se is much easier to replace bulbs. But you will loose canopy space on either side depending on what reflector you choose. So which style of bulbs depends on what type of mh fixture you will be using.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

2 400 mh is a lot of light. It all depends on what you are setting up for. I can grow acro at more than the top 2/3 of my tank. I can not place scolly, chalice, plates or many lps on the sand bed without some sort of overhead object to make a shadow area. I can easily grow maxima clams on my bed. So the 250 more than adds enough for my needs.

Will you be doing de or se mh? If de you will have more room on either side of the light fixture. The draw back is replacing the bulbs. They require a sturdy surface to apply even pressure of the ends in order to install. This is hard to do with canopy on tank. The se is much easier to replace bulbs. But you will loose canopy space on either side depending on what reflector you choose. So which style of bulbs depends on what type of mh fixture you will be using.

I will be using SE MH, so my main question for actinics shoud I have two double bulb T5 fixtures or two single bulb fixtures??

David

 

[Tab28]

I have 2 36" bulbs. They are the diy bulbs. They are not as wide as a pre made fixture. The diy each bulb and reflector is about 3-3.5". One is mounted on each side of my mh fixtures . The mh are good reflectors each cost more than the ballast. i had 4 t5 at one time but when i switched to se mh the amount of room that is left in the canopy is much smaller. Once you choose your mh fixture that will tell you how much room you have left for t5. After my mh fixture i had 7" left. Just enough room for the t5. Had to buy thinner t5 reflectors though. My better ones were 4" wide so for both 8" i only had 7". With the 2 t5 i get the arctic blue in front and back of tank. Once you pick your mh fixture you will know how much room is left the fixtures are big. Unless you get a spider reflector but they are not good at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[feh]

250 watt MH should be plenty for mixed reef. I would go with 2 t5 actinics to suppliment personally and use 250 watt radium bulbs in the MH fixtures. You might also want to invest in a chiller and make sure you have plenty of ventilation in the canopy.

 

[Diazreeflife]

I have 2 36" bulbs. They are the diy bulbs. They are not as wide as a pre made fixture. The diy each bulb and reflector is about 3-3.5". One is mounted on each side of my mh fixtures . The mh are good reflectors each cost more than the ballast. i had 4 t5 at one time but when i switched to se mh the amount of room that is left in the canopy is much smaller. Once you choose your mh fixture that will tell you how much room you have left for t5. After my mh fixture i had 7" left. Just enough room for the t5. Had to buy thinner t5 reflectors though. My better ones were 4" wide so for both 8" i only had 7". With the 2 t5 i get the arctic blue in front and back of tank. Once you pick your mh fixture you will know how much room is left the fixtures are big. Unless you get a spider reflector but they are not good at all.

Thank u so much guys!! I have roughly 4 inches behind my MH and a good 8 inches in front of my MH. So I would inly be able to fit single strip T5. Now talking about DIY T5 I was looking at Home Depot which sells 36 inch single bulb HO strips will these be good to use?

 

[Tab28]

I can not speak of home depot for ballast or fixture. I never used them, but as long as the ballast used is HO and the reflector is a good type. A good reflector is very important. If you are using one strip do not forget you mat have to lower the t5 a bit since generally it will be mounted higher in the canopy. A mh fixture could be more than 6" deep and your t5 will be maybe 3-4" which means light may be hindered from the mh fixture and you only have one strip which guessing will be in front. My end caps are mounted onto a 1x3 which is held by mounting angles mounted onto the sides of the canopy. I have them mounted at the same depth as the mh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

So do you think it's probably a good idea to put one double bulb T5 fixture in the front of my canopy?

 

[Tab28]

If you can place one in front and one in back . That would be a more even lighting. If you center the mh fixture giving you enough ro
In front and back for a t5. Not sure how wide the fixture t5 you will be using.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

If you can place one in front and one in back . That would be a more even lighting. If you center the mh fixture giving you enough ro
In front and back for a t5. Not sure how wide the fixture t5 you will be using.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

I can't center my MH because my canopy folds ups and my MH are as far to the front as possible right up to the hinge. So I'm going to try and squeeze a a strip in the back and a strip In the front.

Now on the ballast should I get one for each MH or is there one I can get for both? Also do T5 require desperate ballast as well?

 

[Tab28]

That should work. My canopy is also hinged. But i found no purpose for it or reason i would ever need to access the tank from that height. The front doors open to allow you to do whatever i need to do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Tab28]

The mh you can go either way. Mine is a double ballast one ballast feeds two fixtures. They only draw back would be that if the ballast goes you loose both fixtures. But mine is a good brand so i am not worried also one ballast is less floor space than two. As for the t5 same options. But since each fixture is only 39 watts one ballast can easily feed several fixtures. Unlike the mh ballast they are not heavy or big so can be mounted inside the canopy. My t5 is a diy so i wired myself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

The mh you can go either way. Mine is a double ballast one ballast feeds two fixtures. They only draw back would be that if the ballast goes you loose both fixtures. But mine is a good brand so i am not worried also one ballast is less floor space than two. As for the t5 same options. But since each fixture is only 39 watts one ballast can easily feed several fixtures. Unlike the mh ballast they are not heavy or big so can be mounted inside the canopy. My t5 is a diy so i wired myself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Where did u get ur DIY T5

 

[Tab28]

I have gotten several over the years. You can search ebay or places like hello lights. You can get them as a set. (2) 36" reflectors, wires, caps, mounting hardware, and vho ballast. Depending on quality you can get all for less than $100 not including bulbs. Easy things to wire.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Diazreeflife]

So to get more of a definitive answer if I'm going to have a mixed reef with fish tank should I just go with 2 250 watt MH bulbs?

Also can anyone recommend a single ballast that can handle 2 MH fixtures?

David