Best types of light

[beermanic]

I am setting up a reef tank and I was going to build my own canopy lighting system and wanted to know what the best type of lights would be. I am trying to save a bit of money, yet get something that is going to work good.

I was looking at getting a couple of shop lights from Home Depot and using some Coralife bulbs. I don't however understand what the difference is between the 20K down to 5.5K. I believe the shop lights are capable of handling these bulbs. I know they work good with my freshwater tanks using GE Gro-bulbs.

I was also looking at the metal Halide bulbs but they were really expensive. Any cheap ideas on where to get cheaper bulbs?

*celebrate

 

[dattack]

You have to first decide what kind of corals you like? Soft corals, LPS, hard corals, anemones?

Different species require more lights than other but if you do a reef, you have to do it right the first time, otherwise, what you thought would save you money actually will cost more if you spend it right the first time.

I would not start a reef on your 225 at this point considering that could cost well over $10000.

Read more of people's system before you take the plunge. I thought I could save money by doing some cheap way but in the end, I ended up spending more.

For reefs, I think you should have either PCs, VHOs, or MHs. I had all three at one time or another but I do prefer MH because I wanted to keep clams and SPS.

 

[beermanic]

I really haven't decided what I want to keep yet. I know I want some hard coral for sure and then work from there. So, what kind of lights would you recommend for hard coral and then what type of other ocean life get along with hard corals. I like using the tube lights because they don't produce a lot of heat like the Metal Halide bulbs can. Plus the cost of MH bulbs are a lot higher than the florecents tubes.

 

[wayne at home]

You need to know what you want to keep before you sort out your lighting needs, plus how deep is the tank. But for almost everything, normal fluorescents are just not strong enough

 

[sinasster]

i agree with dattack, you dont wanna skimp on the lighting. this is not the place to try and save. The only way to really save here is to shop around for the best price on what you need.

 

[beermanic]

I found some HO lights at our local electric store. A fixture with 2-60 Watts tubes for $48.62. I was also looking into the metal halide bulbs and everyone seems to think they will get way too hot and boil my water. What do you think?

The salesman is also checking on a VHO fixture but has to check around before he give me some prices.

 

[beermanic]

I found a ballast for a Workhorse 7 VHO for $48.65 each. I am figuring 4 of these will five me 4 watts / gallon of water. This is a way better deal than the HO for same price. I found a post for furham.com and then I looked for a distributor in my area.

Thanks for all your opinions, they have all been very usefull.

 

[dattack]

You are gettting ripped off. Try a different local distributor because they should cost only $30-$35 for a Workhorse 7.

I got mine for $32.

 

[beermanic]

I was looking at Home Depot today and saw that they sold 4 different outdoor fixutres for mercury vapor lights. The prices ranged from $24.97-$57.85. Can I use these lights for my tanks or not? Will I need special bulbs or can I use any vapor bulb, I know that tube bulbs have different light spectrums but I really don't know too much about these bulbs except that certain ones have different lumens than others. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I am custom building my aquarium display, so I can build some kind of structure to hold these.

 

[toodles]

Don't know squat about mercury vapor but I found this thread....

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70767&highlight=mercury&vapor

HTH

 

[beermanic]

Thanks great link. Even though most of the people on the link were not sure if it would work or not. I am going to give it a try. One nice thing about Home Depot is that you never have any problems returning things if they just don't work for you. I am really hoping that it just fires up and I have no problems though. It can really save me a lot of money in the long run if this lamp delivers what the other board promises.

Thanks