could this work?

16 feet of lamp would be 5 36" bulbs. Thats 5x39W would be 195W per setup, 390W total if you ran two. Not sure how you came up with the 464? I think I figured it out. 464/8 = 48W. 48" Bulb at 48W per bulb? 36" bulbs are 39W (T5HO) and 48" bulbs (T5HO) are 54W each.

The 36" T5HO'es I have are Hagen fixtures. One is a single bulb, the other is a dual bulb. Other than those two fixtures, I have never messed with 36" T5'es. So not sure what ballast would be the best to try to run them on. Mine were complete fixtures and I have never taken the cover off to look at them. Its probably the only tank related thing I own that I haven't taken apart at least twice.

Is 460 watts too much light on a 125? It depends on what you plan to keep in the tank. For SPS or LPS, it could be argued that its not enough light. I know of people that are running 3 MH fixtures on 125'es. Some use 3-250'es and others have 3-400'es.

Even 6 36'es on each half of the tank would put you at 468 and thats still not too much light.

Just do NOT fall into the "watts per gallon" myth as watts-per-gallon doesn't mean a single thing other than some mythical number. Too many other things affect the lighting other than how many Watts there are.

 

All CurrentUSA 36" ballasts run 39W X 2. Not overdriven, but still would put out 312W total T5 for your system. That plus the PCs would be plenty for most corals.

Check around Ebay for a used fixture to strip down.

 

i came across workhorse ballasts that are pretty cheap ~ under $50 each ~ AND will run the 4 x 36" t5 HO each. if i got 2 of those running the 8 36" T5's (10-20k and maybe a purple combo), and get the 4x power compacts (for blues) that would leave me with 696 watts and a hell of a light bill =P. is there any possible problem with the workhorse ballasts i'm not seeing?

this whole setup would be put together over a couple months, starting with 4 x 39w T5's, then adding 4x power compacts shortly there after and then the last array of T5's. by the time its done, the tank should be mature enough for me to start adding corals and not worrying about the the tank itself (not the lighting for once) being totally ready. does that sound like it could work?

~Will.

 

I know it would be more expensive, but personally, I would go with a ballast that runs 2 lamps per. That way, I would have the ability to step up and down my lights even more for a sweet dusk-dawn effect.

 

Honestly Will unless you are getting this trade for essentially free or you are trading something you were going to throw out skip it...

I just tested 2x65 watt PC lamps over a 29 gal... The lamps were brand new out of the box today... I know, you are saying where are you going with this?
I am proving that if PC can barely penetrate 8" in a 29 what will it do in YOUR tank?
Probe was in the center of the fixture, in a lidless tank, with surface agitation turned OFF.

Right under water- 358uMol/m2/sec
Halfwaydown- 188uMol/m2/sec
Bottom (16" or so)- 96uMol/m2/sec

What does all this mean?! It means that for the amount of $$ you will spend on wattage and replacement lamps you will have VERY little coral growth. If you are running these EXACT measurements on your tank you could expect some alright low light LPS grow on bottom, decent LPS growth in middle to top area. Mushrooms will do well as will a few other softies. BUT is it WORTH the amount of PC wattage it would take to mimic those so so results??

 

wow, thats some kick ass info!! basically if i can get the trade to work out how i want it too i'll be getting the power compacts for VERY little money out of pocket. and for the time being while its a FOWLR it will be lit up waaaaay nicer than the current 8x NO T5's i have installed now - there very yellow, and look like crap. someone told me awhile ago that the actinic light didn't really matter how much penetrated the water, nor are they important for coral growth . . . is that true? if i saved the top of the tank for the sps / lps and used the lower portions for softies, would that be acceptable? i have a shelf of live rock thats about 5-6" from the surface and almost 3' long.

ideally i would like to re-build my canopy and hang 2 x 250 watt halides and some VHO actinics around the edges, but i dont have the spare coin lying around to get this all done . . . maybe after the wedding :-X.

~Will.

 

Actinics are not needed for healthy corals. They do look a lot better with them though.

I would hold off on the SPSs until you get you MH. Most of them tend to require high amounts of PAR.

 

T5'es will keep SPS just fine. Too many SPS tanks with T5'es on them,.