Lighting for 72 gallon Bowfront/20 gallon sump

[Whatigot]

Hello aquarists, thank you for opening my thread.
I have recently bought a 72 gallon bowfront and 20 gallon tall sump and it only came with a single 48" fluorescent light for freshwater.
I am planning a reef, lightly stocked as think minimalism in tanks is very desireable and would like the option to keep any coral and fish, or at least to not be limited by the lighting in my choice.

I'm not looking to spend ridiculous amounts of money on lighting, I will be buying used as well to save a little cash.
I am considering a 4x65w compact fluorescents or 2 150w-250w MH pendants.
I have used CF's in the past and like them due to their simplicity and price range but I cannot ignore the praise I've read of MH.

Looking for suggestions please, I know you've got them:wink:

[sharuq1]

Personally, for a 72g I would recommend going with a Tek fixture. You can keep pretty much anything you want and you don't get the heat issues that you do with mH. Also you can tweak the color to be as purple, blue or white as you want using different bulb combos. If I was converting my 72 that is what I would put on it, and save the mH's for a bigger and deeper tank.

If you go with mH, 2 x150w would do, but you may find you have heat issues. Pendants that I thought were nice were the lumenmax, lumenarc, lumenbright (all lumen pendants tend to be rather large as a warning) and the reef optix III.

[dsaundry]

I have a 72g bowfront with 2x250mh and 4-65w pc. My house is air conditioned and I do use fans in addition but even though growth is very good so far, if I had to do it again I think I would use a nice T5 assembly.
I still may switch my mh over to my 90g and put a T5 unit I recently ordered on my 72g. Hope this helps..As for used equipment, check out the usuals, Buy+Sell..Craigslist..Ebay..:biggrin:

[BC564]

I have a 72 gal bowfront and put the Aquactinics Constellation Series 7 row T5's in.

here is the link for a pic

http://www.aquactinics.com/pages/72-Constellation.html

I really like this light...has 3 seperate plugs and switches so you can control it.

[Whatigot]

I have to reiterate that cost is a factor for me.
I am very much the consumate consumer and if I don't get a good deal; I don't buy it.

Man that VHO system is nice, pretty comparable per watt to dollar to the MH though isn't it?
what's the advantage outside of colour customization and heat?


You use 260 watts of cf AND 500 watts of MH light for your 72 bow?

[Whatigot]

also, why does noone like compact fluorescents?
is it mainly because they are too cost effective to be respectable?
seems like they don't come highly reccomended but I haven't found anything wrong with them in my research or experience?

[BC564]

The biggest one is its easy to remove to get into the tank.....has its own legs it sits on. I can wipe it down any time i want....since heat isnt an issue......I'm talking about the safety glass.

[mseepman]

The biggest reason you don't see support for CF lights is that they do not have good PAR for corals. Essentially, they don't give enough light to properly feed many of the corals that people in this hobby like to have. They are mostly used for color supplimentation because of that reason. ie: Actinic CF beside MH lights.

also, why does noone like compact fluorescents?
is it mainly because they are too cost effective to be respectable?
seems like they don't come highly reccomended but I haven't found anything wrong with them in my research or experience?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Power Compact bulbs do not give you very good colour IME & have to be replaced much sooner than MH for a reef tank. PC fine for Fowlrs but I would not use it for reef tanks, unless going with softies & lower light lps. Even then, because they need to be changed more frequently since they dim out & change colour to more yellow, it would not be as cost effective as you seem to think. Countless reefers started with PC lighting & have had to upgrade to MH to not be light limited in their choice of corals. I know that happened to me, but that was before I discovered Canreef.

Anthony

[BC564]

I only use that Aquactinics Constellation on my 72 bow. With the T5 VHO

[sharuq1]

PC's are also much more expensive to replace, and you have to replace them every 6 months, whereas t5's cost less and last longer (people have said anywhere from 8 months to 24 months, but I would stick with 8 months imho). t5's are more around the 20 or so dollar range and pc's in the 50 dollar range.

An example in my own personal experience is that I have grown softies, as well as monti digi and birdsnest (which are some of the easier sps), stylophora (just starting to color up again after a partial bleach) and have a gbta as well under my pc lighting in my 48g bow. Why would I want to change my lighting to t5 (and I would like to)
-bulbs last longer
-bulbs cost less
-more light output
-better reflectors
-cooler running, which means cooler tank (then I would not need to run a fan every time my 10ks come on)
-looks nice
-don't have to have the fixture right on my tank to get the penetration I need...which would also keep it cooler in the tank
-sps does not have to be as high on the rockwork to live and color up nicely as it would under pc's

[sharuq1]

forgot to add:
-more choices in bulb color
-not having to swear when the pins get stuck and break the whole dang bulb making it useless for re-use in other setups where bulb age doesn't matter (hypothetical fowlr, my cichlid tank, etc)
-more flexibility: people have had both sps and clams under t5 successfully
-nice even spread of light (less dark spots)
-if you change your mind and put mh on later you might be able to re-use these for supplemental lighting
-just look at some of the success these bulbs have had over some of the european setups, these definitely give mh a run for their money (seeing those pics is one of the things that really won me over on the t5's)

And as a last side note some of the folks on canreef run t5's. I know mr.alberta does and he could tell you all about it.

[sharuq1]

and lastly....
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/totm/index.php

[Canuckgod420]

I have the bow front 72...and I would never give up my 2 MH 250watt bulbs, great light output....plus I grow SPS on the bottom of the tank.
Heat has been eliminated with 2 small 4" fans, no problems.

P.S
I even have a completely sealed hood over my tank.....the 2 fans make quick work of the heat. I do have a chiller but its not even plugged in during the winter months....I of course have to use it in the summer when the room is over 90 degrees.

[sharuq1]

As another plus for the mH, if you upgrade your tank you are less likely to need to upgrade your lighting. You know for sure you can grow whatever you may want under mH.

[jslaney]

Thanks for asking this question as I have the exact same setup and was wondering the same thing.

I also have a 4' CF light strip that I will be supplementing with iether a clip on or pendent 150W MH.

I dont expect to be able to grow sps every where in my tank but I think it should be addequate for most LPS.

After reading everyones replys I am thinking of maybe switching my CF to T5.

I will have to see how easy it would be to modify the current CF light strip I have.

I think at least one metal halide is important due to that really cool shimering effect it gives.

Good luck and post what you finally decide as I would like to see what you chose.

Jon.

[Whatigot]

so many choices...
I have a question though based on what I've just read...
Is it really that beneficial to add actinic lighting to a 14k MH setup or is it a choice that is more based on the appearance?

[TNTCanada]

I have 2X250 MH 10,000k and 2 T5 Actinics on my 72 Bow... works well for me...

[sharuq1]

From what I have heard the actinic supplemental is more for us people. It is also really nice if you want to do a dawn dusk cycle. For instance I intend to put either 14k or even 20k mh on my 120 (planning) --I think the blue really looks good is why--but I will still most likely have a supplemental t5 bar because I really like the dusk/dawn, plus I can put in purple too if I want and have the colors pop. Plus I think it may give the corals a chance to get used to there being a light on instead of flick instant sun overhead. That could just be my adding a human element to it, though , lol :lol:

so many choices...
I have a question though based on what I've just read...
Is it really that beneficial to add actinic lighting to a 14k MH setup or is it a choice that is more based on the appearance?