Lighting/wattage

Researching lighting for a buddy. He has a 55 regular dimensions that we are wanting to setup as a semi frag/dt. I know a decent amount about lighting but trying to find the most economical wattage for what we need and just to check myself and get opinions.

It will mostly house lots of rock with lots of corals.. mostly softies and LPS. It will have a few basic fish (damsels, and chromis), so in short it is basically a frag tank that looks pretty too. LOL instead of going tub we want to be able to see them while they grow.

First question.. are actinics really necessary for growth/color? Most frag tanks I have seen have just MH's over them. So I am assuming no. We could always retrofit some later if we wanted.

I think a single 250w over this tank will be sufficient. I mean 2 250w halides over a 55 full of rock. You are looking at 35 gallons or so... so 500 watts of power over 35 gallons.. thats nearly 14 watts per gallon. A little overkill for softies and lps. A single 250 will be around 7 watts per gallon. Which is a decent amount of light but will it spread through the 48" in tank?

Please give opinions...

*edit
I have 2 250w MH and 4 65w pc actinics over my 125 and is plenty of lighting and grows things great.

 

You use 2 MH lamps over a 55 because of the length/size of the tank, not water volume.... You could have 1 huge piece of rock in there or 0 or 100# you still need 2 lamps for coverage.. A "normal" reflector will cover roughly 2' sq effectively, but with the advent of larger reflectors and things of that nature you can get upwards to 3+' of coverage per lamp. Lumenmax is one example of said reflectors... Sanjay Joshi has a write of of the larger reflectors and shows how some do better at covering large areas, while some do a better job at penetrating PAR done the tank...
The whole WPG thing doesn't work and this example helps prove that...
Actinics, such as PURE actinics are more meant for color than growth, they put out little PAR they help bring colors out in DTs. If he is STRICTLY looking for a frag tank I would tell him to get a 250w or 400w 6000k Iwasaki on a light moving rail and call it a day. This way he can get away with one fixture that will move back and forth over the tank saving him $$ on 'lectricity but also on lamps, reflectors and ballasts.
Coral farms use lamp movers and 6000k lamps. Once they are ready for sale they tend to put them under "bluer" lamps to color them up.

If he is looking for a DT this will be by no means eye pleasing... Not only from the lamp moving around but the yellow spectrum.

Your most effective cost wise would be to get a 4 lamp TEK or similar higher end T5 fixture... MH/T5 combo fixtures can be pricey, pendants would require him to make some sort of hanging device... If he wants to get away with just 2 MH pendants the 20,000k Radiums are going over well... Or get a similar "higher" spectrum lamp to get away without having supplemental T5 for blues....

 

Hmm lots of info here.. thanks! I found a decent deal on a set of 150w mh buckets with two t5's in the buckets... Would this work sufficently?

So the actinics... actually permanently effect the colors of the corals then. So those are needed. It seems on my fixture you can hardly tell the actinics are on when the MH's are heated up LOL

So if he is just going soft and LPS there isnt exactly a need for mh but it would work better if we can find a good deal. Hmm... I also found some good deal on 4x54w t5's...Not sure what to do... may go mh so he can keep nems and clams etc..

 

Here are some options I found... can get two 150w mh buckets with t5 actinics built in (12w a piece, 2 in each bucket).

Or can get 8x54w t5's that are made to fit the tank instead for the same price.

What you think?

 

No quality T5 fixture will fit with 8 lamps... Any decent fixture will have at smallest 2" SLRs making JUST the lamp portion 16" wide... TOO wide for a 55 gallon. 6 lamps would be max on that tank. A Tek 6 lamp will even overhang... The lamps will cover the tank but the fixture will overhang...Do you have a link to these pendants? I personally would go with at least 175s but that is me...

 

It will fit 55gal easy ...you just need the right spectrums for the T5bulbs and or Halides down the road.

If it comes with bulbs See if they will ship with 20k spectrum on the Halide..Most budget Halide look a lot whiter vs Blue with thier buggetBulbs.(20kRadium and Reeflux12k will be best for par and or looks on 150 and 175 halides vs 14/15k .

As for Atinics most budget Halides with atinic use the( 460 blue) which is a light to medium blue. These are not as good as UVlighting or Hamilton O3 T5bulb which are nicer for a true Flouresing bulb.


Down the road save for some Radium 20k's or Reeflux12k's 150 halide bulbs and Hamilton true AtinicO3 for t5's . You will like how they perform even on the same ballast.

 

8)for softies and LPS i wouldn't even go with halides I would stick with T5s as thats all you are planning to keep in this frag tank. but if you think you will venture out into sps then mindes wll get the halide set up now.

 

Im thinking of him progressing in the sport down the road;D

Those 20k's will probally burn a White Aquablue...It all depends on the brand.

If you ran raise the Lights at first the Softies will adjust and you can lower the fixtures as the weeks go by.



Remeber the Sea is a Garden of all sorts of Animals that can run and move when the Water and Sun Move. In a tank you sometimes have to acomadate with Higher Lights or give some shade in areas.

In most cases i see people Advance in lighting because they want More Color and or Growth or just cooler things thiving all over the tank.




Once the softies adjust thell multiply like mad. I use 175Halide and 4t5's for my softies and SPS @ 14- 20k spectrums

Im Actually gonna switch to a 250halide with same T5's So i can have my Lights higher above the tank and slowly lower them as the bulbs age to keep my Par balanced.

Ive found its easier to Keep the Par //Brightness in check using a 250 set higher than my 175.

 

My buddy ended up going with two 150w buckets 15,000k light... with t5 actinics... should look pretty good. Especially since we get most of our coral from each other.. and I am running 250w halides