Brianemone Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Buon Gioron a tutti I am making my own tank (1500L/600H/500W)and stuff and i want to know the most convenient method o lighting. Tubes (marine blu) or something else. In hamilton thats all we have so id have to make a little trip to auckland to get anything else. Any suggestions would b appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 Fish only or are you keeping corals too? If fish only, just fluoros are sufficient. If keeping corals, you really need metal hallides (closest to simulating sunlight) - probably 3 hallides (1 hallide per 2 foot) x 250W x 10k's (Your height is not overly deep hence why 250W is probably ok for your tank. Any deeper go 400W) Also about 4 - 6 actinic blues would be handy to get lighting across the full spectrum. Hallides can be expensive. Note: Kelvin (or colour temp) = 5500K warm white, 6500K warm white, 10K Crisp white to blue tint, 12K-20K blue tints Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 Thanks for the info where can i get these magical hallides?? electrical/lighting store or pet stores?? also where can i find the fittings and sockets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 depends if you want to buy new or 2nd hand. if new, see jansens or hollywood fish farm. alternately, try sending a PM to 'reef' - he (Alois) is the best person to sort you out or at least send you in the right direction. If 2nd hand, you want to get hold of 'jetskisteve' - he's your pimp fish daddy when it comes to sourcing stuff however, he is (as of 2 hours ago) away in fiji for 2 weeks at the moment. Lastly, wait for about a day and you're highly likely to get a reply from Pies 8) (assuming he's not in the middle of moving house) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 Halides are the same lamps used for street lighting, incase you wanted to see what they look like. The a big, bright and consume mega amounts of power! Whoohooo. 600 deep, 250watt minimum for hard coral. Cost. Well the sky is the limit. If you want a 'good looking' unit, Reef is the man to talk to, he has just brought some 2nd hand units and they are quite good value, I suspect he wants about $1000.00 for them each. Halide bulbs cost over $130ea cheap, and in pet stores can cost over $300.00ea. Expensive? Depends on how you look at it, they are actually the best 'value' lights available, in that more light per watt consumed. However this depends on how you measure 'light', some may argue. DIY? this is the route I am going down I suspect. DIY lighting can cost less than $250 per light including bulb. You will have to build a reflector and be a sparky though. Running costs... I have calculated that its cheaper for me to use 4x 400 watt lights than 5x 250 watt lights (Which I was going to use). Bulb replacement and initial purchase are killers. Lighting is the bane of my new tank design at the moment. Good luck to you. Could be my last post for a while, will be joining Steve in Fiji for 2 weeks of diving and sweet FA. Piefiji Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted May 26, 2004 Report Share Posted May 26, 2004 Followed shortly by me!!... 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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