Metal Halide lighting for 36" 55 gallon

[DesertReefT4r]

Pretty odd how they did the top of the tank. An open euro brace would have been much more practical. I still stand by tbe 250w MH in this case.

 

[jda]

If you are going to use tiny reflectors, then I would run a pair of 150w. You can spread 36 inches, especially with T5s if you have a larger reflective area like Crabs does.

I would do the single 250w if you get a larger fixture. If you are going to end up with Odyssea, then I would get two smaller ones.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Talked to the wife about the lights and she said that she really liked the look of the tank when we used to run the SB reef lights. I'm now thinking about going with two 16" or one 32" basics, and doing the Apex mod on them.

I suppose this would reduce the heat significantly, only cost slightly more and allow a dusk/dawn affect.

Any opinions on two [or three] 16" lights vs one 32" light?

The thought behind two 16" is that if I eventually want/need to add a third light, I could do that and place them front-back in the hood.
@DesertReefT4r
@Crabs Mcjones
@mcarroll
@A. grandis

 

[Crabs McJones]

Talked to the wife about the lights and she said that she really liked the look of the tank when we used to run the SB reef lights. I'm now thinking about going with two 16" or one 32" basics, and doing the Apex mod on them.

I suppose this would reduce the heat significantly, only cost slightly more and allow a dusk/dawn affect.

Any opinions on two [or three] 16" lights vs one 32" light?

The thought behind two 16" is that if I eventually want/need to add a third light, I could do that and place them front-back in the hood.
@DesertReefT4r
@Crabs Mcjones
@mcarroll
@A. grandis

Agreed, easier to add in more later on down the road if you go with the smaller units. Or what i've seen done, is depended on how much bigger you go, put the 32 in the center with a 16 on each side if you get the 32 right away.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Agreed, easier to add in more later on down the road if you go with the smaller units. Or what i've seen done, is depended on how much bigger you go, put the 32 in the center with a 16 on each side if you get the 32 right away.

Planning to stick with the 55 gallon for at least 3 + years, so i'm not necessarily planning for "down the road" on this tank =)

With the tank being 36" long, i'm thinking that i'd rather leave the opportunity to add more light as my corals now are grown 10" under a 150w MH so I want to make sure that they can get the light they need.

The wife made the call against MH due to the heat, and being enclosed in a hood needing some ventilation fans, etc.

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Any opinions on whether a SBreeflight 16" front-to back on each side of the tank + a 150w Metal halide would look weird? [being LED on the outsides and MH in the center]

Wouldn't cost me anything but some scrap wood and time to get them mounted up that way.

Otherwise, i'm planning to mount the SBreeflight 16" side-to-side with a small gap in the center [in the canopy]

 

[Velcro]

Talked to the wife about the lights and she said that she really liked the look of the tank when we used to run the SB reef lights. I'm now thinking about going with two 16" or one 32" basics, and doing the Apex mod on them.

I suppose this would reduce the heat significantly, only cost slightly more and allow a dusk/dawn affect.

Any opinions on two [or three] 16" lights vs one 32" light?

The thought behind two 16" is that if I eventually want/need to add a third light, I could do that and place them front-back in the hood.
@DesertReefT4r
@Crabs Mcjones
@mcarroll
@A. grandis

Hrmm. I have two Apex modded 32 basics down in Kalamazoo I've been thinking about selling. Really nice apex mod with kessil style headphone outlets for the dimming cables haha. Id just need to find another buyer for the 2nd one.

 

[reefwiser]

Talked to the wife about the lights and she said that she really liked the look of the tank when we used to run the SB reef lights.

One of my favorite reasons for why people use a certain LED light. " I like the light it puts off."
Problem is Corals are not people and our eye's are the worst at seeing the light that corals require.
I would use two 150 watt MH led fixtures from Reef brite.
http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-halide-hybrid/
https://www.marinedepot.com/Reef_Br...D_Combo-Reef_Brite-3M01100-FILTFIMHML-vi.html

The new electronic ballast of MH fixture drives the MH bulb so effectively that there is little heat put out in the fixture. Reef brite shows this off every year at MACNA letting people touch the hood of the MH running all during the conference. Everyone is always amazed at how cool they run with out any fan at all. With MH you will have the best chance of success. They just work and have for a very long time. When I switch from Radions to MH I was surprised at how little amps the MH fixture used less than the radions. This surprised me .

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Hrmm. I have two Apex modded 32 basics down in Kalamazoo I've been thinking about selling. Really nice apex mod with kessil style headphone outlets for the dimming cables haha. Id just need to find another buyer for the 2nd one.

I'm actually supposed to receive two of the 16" basics today through UPS. I'm planning to mod them to connect to my APEX but I haven't found the info on how to do that or the materials required yet. [honestly I haven't looked into it much - I just know that it's possible. I may have messaged you a few weeks ago about buying yours when I saw them posted lol

One of my favorite reasons for why people use a certain LED light. " I like the light it puts off."
Problem is Corals are not people and our eye's are the worst at seeing the light that corals require.
I would use two 150 watt MH led fixtures from Reef brite.
http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-halide-hybrid/
https://www.marinedepot.com/Reef_Br...D_Combo-Reef_Brite-3M01100-FILTFIMHML-vi.html

The new electronic ballast of MH fixture drives the MH bulb so effectively that there is little heat put out in the fixture. Reef brite shows this off every year at MACNA letting people touch the hood of the MH running all during the conference. Everyone is always amazed at how cool they run with out any fan at all. With MH you will have the best chance of success. They just work and have for a very long time. When I switch from Radions to MH I was surprised at how little amps the MH fixture used less than the radions. This surprised me .

My grand total on two 16" basic SBReeflights was $265.00, whereas two of those Reef Brite fixtures would cost $854 + 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs. This is a no brainer to me to be honest. The question I have now is whether or not using a 16" SBReeflight LED on each end of the tank + the 150w metal halide that I have in the center would make the inside of the tank look weird with different light outputs throughout the tank. I already have the 150w fixture, so it won't cost me anything more than a few pieces of wood to give it a shot. I did think about buying some used radions, but figured the sbreef were worth the much lower cost to give a shot.

Thanks for the input!

@Velcro - if you have information handy about how you modded your lights, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Velcro]

I'm actually supposed to receive two of the 16" basics today through UPS. I'm planning to mod them to connect to my APEX but I haven't found the info on how to do that or the materials required yet. [honestly I haven't looked into it much - I just know that it's possible. I may have messaged you a few weeks ago about buying yours when I saw them posted lol



My grand total on two 16" basic SBReeflights was $265.00, whereas two of those Reef Brite fixtures would cost $854 + 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs. This is a no brainer to me to be honest. The question I have now is whether or not using a 16" SBReeflight LED on each end of the tank + the 150w metal halide that I have in the center would make the inside of the tank look weird with different light outputs throughout the tank. I already have the 150w fixture, so it won't cost me anything more than a few pieces of wood to give it a shot. I did think about buying some used radions, but figured the sbreef were worth the much lower cost to give a shot.

Thanks for the input!

@Velcro - if you have information handy about how you modded your lights, that would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the video I used.
I then used these for the connection on the light https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/...ryId=&returnUnitIndices=&shipmentId=DlnBgb889

You can then either use the kessil Apex cable or build your own. One dimming port on the Apex (two channels) will handle two 16" fixtures so you can just. Get one kessil cable then get a headphone Y splitter for the fixtures.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Here's the video I used.
I then used these for the connection on the light https://www.amazon.com/your-orders/...ryId=&returnUnitIndices=&shipmentId=DlnBgb889

You can then either use the kessil Apex cable or build your own. One dimming port on the Apex (two channels) will handle two 16" fixtures so you can just. Get one kessil cable then get a headphone Y splitter for the fixtures.

That link didn't work [took me to my orders screen]

Thanks for the references! Planning on doing this mod in the next couple of weeks, so i'll have some time to research it. I've never used the dimming ports on the Apex - do I need to buy an additional module for my Apex to be able to control these?

I also have MP10's but they're the old ones, and aren't wireless so I don't think I can control these with the Apex.

I was planning/hoping to use my Jebaos in the new tank to add complimentary flow - these are being controlled right now via an ethernet type port on the head unit of the Apex.

If I need to run these on their dedicated controllers in order to control the lights, that's not a problem, but if I can control both that would be great!

 

[Velcro]

That link didn't work [took me to my orders screen]

Thanks for the references! Planning on doing this mod in the next couple of weeks, so i'll have some time to research it. I've never used the dimming ports on the Apex - do I need to buy an additional module for my Apex to be able to control these?

I also have MP10's but they're the old ones, and aren't wireless so I don't think I can control these with the Apex.

I was planning/hoping to use my Jebaos in the new tank to add complimentary flow - these are being controlled right now via an ethernet type port on the head unit of the Apex.

If I need to run these on their dedicated controllers in order to control the lights, that's not a problem, but if I can control both that would be great!

which version of the apex do you have

 

[Reef of Fillory]

which version of the apex do you have

I think it's a "classic" unit - bought it here used off of the forum

 

[Velcro]

it should have some ports on the brain that look like two ethernet ports. I think they are labelled v1/v2 and v3/v4

 

[Reef of Fillory]

it should have some ports on the brain that look like two ethernet ports. I think they are labelled v1/v2 and v3/v4

Yep I'm using one of the ports for the jebaos, so I can control two lights with the one remaining port? I'd like to be able to control both lights white and blue channels at the same time.

I got my lights today and put them in the hood. I'm not sure about using the two SB 16s only, or throwing the 150w metal halide in between them.

Anyone have any thoughts?



This would be with all three lights

This is how I have them in there with just the two lights end to end