What should I do for lights in my new tank??

[reefwars]

Hey all so I'm thinking about my lights for my new set up, the tank is going to be 48"x48"x20"high it's going to have a center overflow for a full walk around tank with all sides viewable. Coral in this tank is gonna be fairly simple zoa's and some nem's maybe some lps. There will be no canopy so I need it to be clean. How do I go about lighting for all four sides??

I was thinking 6 mh pendants 2 for each side east and west and one for each side north and south but where do I put supplemnt lighting in there if I hang the pendants???

Am interested in any thoughts as I've never set up a tank like this and am a little stumped without spending thousands on lighting??? Thanks guys

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I would go with 4 pendants, each a bit more than a foot from the four corners. That would give you full coverage.

You could hang supplemental lighting down the middle, maybe even a T5 actinic light strip in front of each pair of pendants, angled slightly inwards.

[reefwars]

That's not a bad idea I never thought about off setting them slightly.

And I may have to go with the strip lights for supplement , atleast they are clean looking.

What if I were to have someone make me like a giant metal washer would the circle shape help In My design??? Hummm just thinking randomly here lol:)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Actually, that's what I would do. Make a light weight, but strong, circular ring, about 3' or a little bit more in diameter. Attach the four pendants across from each other and the mount the light strip in an -|- pattern. Don't know if you'd need supplemental on the outside with this system. I would think its enough. Am I confusing you?

[reefwars]

Not at all I wasn't sure f I could word what I was thinking lol but that's it.. Basically a circle ring over my square tank with the 4 pendants and I can do striplights running across the gaps of the pendants . With a metal ring it would look clean and I would just hang the ring and mount the pendants and strips possibly some moonlights led's if the budget or room allows it:)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

On the other hand, with a 20" deep tank, you could go T5HO easily. Me, I love the shimmer of MH.

[lastlight]

Lighting 16 square feet with T5s could be pretty expensive come bulb replacement time. I'd have some as supplemental but stick to mh for the core.

With that much surface area evaporation will be huge. How are you planning to deal with that (thread hijack not intended!)?

[reefwars]

Lighting 16 square feet with T5s could be pretty expensive come bulb replacement time. I'd have some as supplemental but stick to mh for the core.

With that much surface area evaporation will be huge. How are you planning to deal with that (thread hijack not intended!)?

Not sure yet I will have a dehumidifier and air conditioner for the hotter months but I'll have an ato underneathe. The good thing about a tank this big is lots of room under the tank. I just finished the framing for the stand and I can almost walk around under there lol it's huge:)

seahorse fanatic I too love the shimmer. I was at a friends house the other day and ge has a new led light very cool fixture and has a nice shimmer but at 2000-3000 for a 24" , it wouldn't be cost effective for my build as u would need several lol

I'm thinking the fish need it pendants 250w and I'm not sure on the brand fir strip lights.

There's slot of kinks in this build that I'm trying to work out because of it's huge footprint :) I'm taking my and to Kelly from the reefshoppe on Monday to try to get some more solid ideas:)

IRS funny I have several mh/t5 combos and a dew diy mh's and diy t5's of which none can be used here lol I want nothing to touch the tank so ut will all have to be mounted to something and hung so I don't have 10 cables coming from my ceiling :)

thanks for some great input guys:):)

[lastlight]

You could hang a floating light skirt much like I did and then install whatever you have into it. You don't see any of it if it hangs low enough. Then you have 4 or so wires.

[reefwars]

S that the one fom your Solon I think it called?? If so I seen it many times in pictures and loved it , me and a friend were saying this morning that I I were to use a giant ring to hang the pendants from I may make some sort of "skirt" for it so it keeps the girlfriend happy, if anything from this build I do it needs to be approved by her, her rules lol :)

so if I were to do a light ring I was thinking I'll take the pendants apart I'll drill a hole and use bolts and washers/seals to join to the ring so I can take them apart for whatever reason

BEing as I have no clue about led's lol how could I mount some moonlights onto my ring??? Can I get little round led housings to join on or do they all come in made fixtures?? Any good led sites ???

I would like to add some strip lights in between my pendants who makes good strip lights?? Thanks guys:)

[Myka]

I would go with 4 pendants as well, moguls with big reflectors. Either 250w for most bulbs or the 175w Iwasaki bulbs...depends if you like the Iwasaki bulbs and if you want to save a bit of electricity.