Lighting

[alex8111]

I currently only have a total of 190 watts on my 80 gal.

I know that is not enough to keep corals so instead of buying a new light fixture, I have decided to build my own incorporating the lights I already have. I only need about another 100 watts to have sufficient lighting.

My question is this:

Are there any retrofit power compact lighting I can buy at decent price? I guess 36 inches will do, even a little smaller is fine. My other light is 48 inches so I just need a little bit more light added to what I already have.

I really don’t want to go and buy a whole new light as it will be too expensive for me so I would like to do my own.

Also, if anyone is selling power compact lights, I might be interested. My intentions are to combine what I already have with the new light I am planning on buying (retrofit).

Any suggestions?

 

[Lorna]

with an 80g tank you should really think about incorporating 2 metal halide lights at about 250 watts a piece to your existing for a light that would allow you to keep most anything. Adding only 100 more watts won't gain you enough light to punch down into the depth of that size tank. Wattage is not the only factor and watts/gallon is not a sufficient measurement of adequate light. You can try any of the online sites will point ou in the right direction for a great diy retro kit.

 

[alex8111]

The thing is that I don’t want to spend all this money on lights for the 80 gallon because I will eventually upgrade to a much larger tank.

I don’t really care if I can keep everything or not. Mainly, just some soft corals & plants will due. I’m just tired of looking at rock. I want to have some color in the tank.

From what people have been telling me, all I need is to have a min of 3 or 4 watts per gallon to be able to keep soft corals. Another 100 watts will bring me to 290 watts which should be enough for some corals.

I really cant afford to go all out with 500 watts of MH lighting at the moment. I mainly wanted to know if there are any options for just upgrading my current light instead replacing the whole thing altogether.

 

[Lorna]

Well if that is the case then toss what you have and get a really good t5 retro diy kit and build it into a canopy. If you do it right you will be able to use this light later on when you upsize/upgrade your tank. I was told this when I first started out....... get the absolute best possible light you can afford right from the start as upgrading lighting is expensive. I have to agree.....as I am now looking to boost my lighting somewhat. You can not go by the wattage / gallon as I stated it is more dependant on the depth of your tank and in an 80 it is pretty deep and 90% of pcs don't have the strength to reach the substrate. You can do T5 lighting for the same price as pc's and the bulbs are cheaper to replace. PC bulbs last only about 6 months at best.

 

[TRe]

this a good site for retrofits ... thats where i got my retrofit 250w halides i think with shipping, tax, ect.. i paid something like $140 each before bulbs
btw i have my old coralife pc's for sale $75 each plus shipping (each is 24" 2x65w)

 

[alex8111]

this a good site for retrofits ... thats where i got my retrofit 250w halides i think with shipping, tax, ect.. i paid something like $140 each before bulbs
btw i have my old coralife pc's for sale $75 each plus shipping (each is 24" 2x65w)

That’s a really good site.

I don’t think I want MH lights because of the heat. I don’t see any decent T5 retrofits on that site. They don’t seem to have many T5 options, best one I see is 48" 2 x 54w T5 HO Retrofit Kit – but that’s less power than the PCs they have.

Tre, is it retrofit? $75 is not bad at all for 130 additional watts. I know Lorna says the wattage per galllon is not a proper way of measuring light requirements but the current PC I have is extremely bright. My 80 gallon tank is only 24 inches in depth so I think a total of 320 watts should suffice for minimum light corals.

Id rather pay $75 to make this upgrade instead of paying for a brand new light. Its not like I will ever use this light when I upgrade my tank. I just don’t want to spend good money on light and then regret it when I want to upgrade. Since I don’t know yet how big I will upgrade, it wouldn’t make much sense to buy a whole new system.

$75 to add another 130 of the same type of light seems to make more sense to me. What condition is your light in? Any pics? Would you recommend me adding it to my already 190 watts?

 

[Lotus]

There are some T5 retrofit kits here: http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/Sunlight_Supply/Tek_Ready_Fit_Kits/

 

[TRe]

heres a link to the light i have..... the light is about a year old and the bulbs were replaced about 4 months ago so youll have to replace the bulbs in a few months but all in all the lights are in great condition

 

[alex8111]

Tre, I need it to be retrofit so I can make it fit in my canopy with my current light. I’ll keep shopping around until I find something suitable.

 

[TRe]

for a retrofit try the link i posted