BIG TIME noob on LIGHTING

same one but cheaper 36" 442W Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light w/ Free Ship</IMG>
System Support: 1x250W HQI, 2x96W CF, 4xBluemoon LED

 

36" 442W Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light w/ Free Ship - (eBay item 130160809257 end time Oct-12-07 21:32:47 PDT) $239.00

Odyssea 36" Aquarium Metal Halide Light 442W NEW! - (eBay item 300157617476 end time Oct-09-07 21:06:27 PDT)

$199.00

 

What size tank is this 72G?

To keep an anemone you will need MH. But for now your single light will do fine for a Fish only. But you will quickly want to get into corals and other light demanding things so start saving your pennies. Because you have a Bow front tank you may want to go with a Retro kit and custom build your hood. Save some money and make it take advantage of the bow

J

 

No, no, no. While that MH fixture is an excellent suggestion, notice that the halide bulb is in the MIDDLE of the unit. If you place that on your tank, your middle support brace will block out most of the light. Trust me I have the same size tank as you do and that was a huge factor in deciding what I was going to buy. The fixture I bought is no longer available from the place I got it. Actually they now have a much better fixture, sleeker, more powerful lights, for about the same price! And mine is only barely a year old....yea I'm bitter

Oh well, the point I'm trying to make is if you go with MHs then you need a unit that has a bulb on both sides, like mine does. For example this one would be great

36" 630W Metal Halide System (Electronic Version) - 504015

That one is very similar to the one I bought. It's the same brand, same layout and everything, only they have gone from 175W MH bulbs to 250W bulbs. Plus like I said it looks like the actual unit is a little bit sleeker, too. But that's about the same price I paid.

A word of caution, the Odyssea brand has gotten a bad reputation and some people will tell you it will catch your house on fire. I'm not denying the fact that some of their OLDER units had meltdowns, but I was heckled on here a little when I first bought mine and here I am 16 months later without a single problem. My skimmer is Odyssea too. It seems to me that they have made their ballasts better and safer over the years. And besides, a meltdown is entirely possible with ANY brand of lighting. {profanity removed} happens.

Last word - That T5 unit that you found for $189 would also be a SUPERB choice! There used to be a guy on these forums named Bruce, I've been out of the loop for awhile so I don't know if he's still around. Anyways he bought T5s for his 55gal tank and said that his SPS corals (which are notorious for needing BRIGHT light) were getting better within WEEKS of having those lights.

And yes, if your tank is 36" long then you need a lighting unit that is also 36" long. Hope that helps!!

 

Also check out this thread. It has lots of success stories about T5s that you might be interested in reading up on. I'd say if you can't afford the MHs, then T5s are definitely the way to go!

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lighting/what-likes-t5s-41292.html

 

Brandon..I took a closer look at the pic of Clowfish's tank and I saw the center brace....my bad....

 

with any M/H you need a bulb for ever 2 linear feet and if its a 36 in tank then you'd be better with 2 smaller M/H rather then just one 250 dead center .

 

WOW thanks guys, at the moment I'm still deciding between the T5 and the eBay one, Metal Halide...I'm leaning towards the T5, but I'll keep on reading about them both. Thanks again!

BTW I can't return the favor when it comes to reef obviously, but if any of you ever need help with you PCs, hardware compatability, software, malware, etc. Let me know.

 

I would go with 4 or possibly 6 at most T5HO's. I am currently running a 4x54w T5HO unit on a 75g tank with EXCELLENT growth on SPS's, zoanthids and some leathers.

 

Oh yeah, I know a VERY prominate and respected coral farmer who also has a store front that just switched all of his lighting over from metal halide to T5HO's if that says anything.

And those el cheapo MH's units you see on ebay and other places, there ballasts are crap. You can put a 20,000K bulb in them and it still looks yellowish. Good units other then the ballasts, but thats 75% of the cost.