lighting

Back to the knowledgeable forums for more help. I am getting close to having almost all of my items for my tank, and will likely be building my own sump/fuge very soon thanks to birdlady's encouragement! I was at my LFS last night and they suggested a 36in orbit PC ($299) for my lighting needs on my 46gal bowfront. My question here is...should I go with that or spend more and get something with more grunt? I do intend to have some hard corals and possibly a fungia or plate coral on the sand bed. I think the wattage came out to 4.1 w/gallon with this setup they suggested. I know metal halide used the be the "best" but are the prices still as rediculous as they were 3-4 years ago? ~$2000

Thanks again to everyone on this forum even those that haven't directly responded to a post of mine...even those posting their own questions are very helpful and provide a wealth of knowledge to help the rest of us reefers

 

36in outer orbit? - http://marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CU01041

 

You would be dissapointed with only 4 watts/gallon. Metal halide is much more reasonable now, and you should definitly consider it if you want hard corals.

 

check out ebay. i got a great deal on my halide lights there.

 

i've looked at a few halide systems, but have no idea what is good and what is hype. I like the idea of 24hr lighting but don't want a algae pit to form. also I often see systems with a halide bulb and PC bulbs...is this what I should be looking at?

Thanks again,
Mike

 

Ok, I think i've decided on this lighting solution - 36" Outer Orbit 1x150W HQI-MH w/Actinic (Current) for my 46gal bowfront

Does anyone have any opinions of it? good/bad? I am interested in finding a non-retrofit setup and am open to any opinions anyone may have or suggestions of another brand of lighting to get instead. I'd like to get something ordered today so I can be another step closer to having my new tank up and running

Thanks,
Mike

 

is the orbit 4 55w pc bulbs in one fixture. if so you will probably be ok with that but if the corals you are planning to have on the sand bed require a lot of light you will need better penetration. i recently changed from a 47 bow. i had two 175w metal halides on it and it struggled to get enough light to the bottom for things that need strong light.that actinic should be fine.

 

I have the coralife aqualight pro which is a simmilar (almost identical) set up to the current/outer orbit light. I have not used the current/outer orbit light, but I can tell you I am very happy with my coralife light set up.

I got it on-line at www.thatfishplace.com. It was more then 50% cheaper on line then at my lfs.

 

I actually ended up going with the coralife unit as well and so far am pretty happy with it, I would have liked to see some better placing of the moon light led's or possibly 4 of them instead of 2...if 4 possibly less intensity, but one high rock is really well lit where other parts of the tank get no light from it. I also chose this unit because of the external ballast for the halide, I think the outer orbit was enclosed with the light as well and was even more worried about heat issues with that model. I currently see temps as high as 81 when both halide and PC's are on. 46gal bowfront with 36in light fixture.

Mike