55g tank build and now for the lights!!

i am in the process of finishing my 55g tank build but am still waiting for customs in the uk to release my glass holes overflow kit from their grips. i have built my own sump got all the gubbins but am a little stuck on the lighting

now, my tank i am using at the mo is a river reef 45 stocked with 2 18w t5 bulbs, i also have another spare hood setup the same as the fan on my first hood packed in so they sent me a new hood and replaced the fan ;D

72 wats sounds a little low to me but talking to my lfs about these i was told that running both should be ok for me as they were a good type of light and i only plan on keeping softies for now

i also have sourced beter bulbs than the origional daylight plus, these are from the orca tl450 which use 10k blue white bulbs which have been tested in the same hood and work well, but i wouldnt mind adding a few more lumens into the mix to be safe

any thoughts and feelings on extra lighting if i need it would greatly be taken onboard
thanks

 

i have the ati powemodule 6 bulb fixture..i love it.. for your tank i would at least get a 4 bulb fixture.. 48" 4x54HO.. ati and tek are the only ones i would buy....

also i have alot of friends with evolution leds..theyre freaking bright, way brighter than i thought they could be..my friend has a 200w one which is equivalent to a 400w halide..

 

scrapping my hoods thing has crossed my mind aswell and going down the led route as said i need to replace 4 bulbs costing over £40 then my thoughts were if needed to buy a hagen glo T5 HO39wx2 fitting at £30 along with new tube aswell....
im talking about £100 just for that only to replace all the tubes in another year. a proper set of leds lights to do the job would cost me about the £200 mark
do these die off like normal bulbs or are they good until they no longer shine?
i could then sell the reef tank and get some monies back from that

 

They are theoretically good for 10 years at 10 hours a day with 30% degradation in intensity. 200$(£) will not get u an ideal led set up but in the 400$range you can find fixtures that will be capable of maintaining anything you want.

 

in dollars they are $400 works out at about $200 per strip. i think theyre well worth loking into again, i origionally noticed them in my lfs but the price made me me move quite rapidly from that section.lol but sitting there and working out how much i would save on the electric along with new tubes and what not they seem to be tempting me a little more now

thanks for the info on the lifespan of these, how may watts would be adequate for my tank do you think as the watts are nothing comapred to regular bulbs?
im not sure but the ones i saw might have been aquabeams

 

if it were my tank i would get two 100w ones..

 

wow that ould cost like $700 each what you lighting the atlantic ;D

 

i have been having a good look about the internet on led lighting and found that marine manufactors charge an arm and a leg for a very little ammount of lighting,
on the other hand i know hydroponic lights in which we also use such as mh lights as they produce the blue spectrum we so need.

is there anyone else using blue/white hydroponic leds on their tanks?

heres a link

http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=407

 

It should be 700 total for 2 evolution LEDs. But Im no led wizz either. All I can say is that I've seen a few of the evo led fixtures on and they were super bright. Way brighter than my ati fixture. But that's just to to the eye. But I can promise u they will grow the heck of some corals. It also seemed brighter than some halides I've seen. Nothing can touch a 400 watt halide. But those LEDs are nice. I'm thinking bout selling my fixture and goingto them. The 100w. It's comparable to a 250w halide. One will light a 36" tank. And two will do a 48" to 60" tank I think. I used to be a halide junky and now after seeing some of these high end fixtures I'm somewhat starting to recovered them.

U can always just go with a t5. Halides are the best but ur gonna be topping alot. And u run the risk if u have a canopy having to get a chiller. But I ran halides with no chiller and tank never went over 80.

Just find a budget and start searching around fr the best option for u

 

yeah i saw those 100 watt single led, one hell of a heatsink on those babies