Cool Breeze Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'm about to order a 36"x36"x36" Rimless. I'm trying to decide what light i want. I want to go with a single hanging light. I think I want a 1000w with a digital ballast any suggestions on what to go with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 What kind of tank are you going for? SPS dominant? Mixed reef? Softies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myvirtue Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 shhh.... dont help him until he takes your personality test! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 shhh.... dont help him until he takes your personality test! Haha! Of course that'd make the whole thing easier... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Breeze Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 mixed reef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 You will roast the tank with a 1000 watt lamp and you would need a large chiller. If you want a single fixture a 400 watt would be the minimum I would put on a tank that size. If you did have a canopy for it I would mount (4) 150 watt lamps, thats probably what I would do. I have (2) 250 watt lamps over my 75 gallon frag tank (only 50 gallons in it) and it is too much, my sps struggle under it so I keep the dimmable ballast turned back to 175 watt. Also your choice of bulbs is really limited for 1000 watts for aquariums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 For just under $50,000 you can get a fine LED fixture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 For just under $50,000 you can get a fine LED fixture pfffftthhhh...you can get one for sub $1000 for a 36" cube. Did you mean a single 400 is the max you put on that tank? You said minimum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Having a single pendant is eastheticly a simple and uncluttered option but I've always liked multiple bulb for different bulbs and redundancy. If I remember correctly you're moving corals from another tank so are you looking at keeping the same color temp with your new fixture? If going to a mixed reef changes the makeup of your animals I'd go with 10 or 12 K bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 i'm glad to hear there is going to be another tank similar to mine in the area. I have a 36x37x18 semi cube. I have tried several different lighting options over my tank and haven't been happy yet. I first wen with a single 250 with pc hanging fixture, but i didn't like all the shadows it created around the tank. I think you would have the same problem with a single 400 or 1000. Also, i'm not sure how your aquascape will be but i have a central lr island and with the single light it created one extremely bright spot in the middle or the rockscape that would get cooked by the intense light. I then changed to a hanging fixture with 2x250 mh and 2x39 t5s. I really like the fixture, but i'm still not getting the spread front to back like I would like to see. I think stephen hit the nail on the head when he said 4x150s in a canopy, but if you're like me you don't want to build a huge fixture to hang over your tank and ruin the asthetics. My next attempt is still the 2x250 mh, but i'm changing to lumenarc mini reflectors to hopefully spread the light out better. I have built a hanging fixture that matches my stand perfectly. In the end it will be a hanging fixture with 2x250 lumenarc MH powered by lumatek dimmable 400/250 mh ballasts, and 4x39W T5s in individual reflectlors for actinic supplementation that will be driven by an icecap 660 ballast. This will all be hanging and hopefully will not ruin the rimless look of my tank. If you'd like to come by and see my current light versus my new light so you can get some ideas feel free to swing by. That way you can do it right the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Go T5. Less energy consumption. Lots of options with bulbs. Cooler tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Breeze Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 medi i would love to swing by and take a look at your setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 something like this might be nice, maybe with more than three bulbs though http://reefcentral.c...1472817&page=14 second post from the top on page 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The 10x36 ATI Powermodule would be more than enough for that tank. Plus it's super sexy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 For just under $50,000 you can get a fine LED fixture pfffftthhhh...you can get one for sub $1000 for a 36" cube. Did you mean a single 400 is the max you put on that tank? You said minimum... That is the minium I would put on a tank that deep, but a 1000 watt is too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Rangoon Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 something like this might be nice, maybe with more than three bulbs though Yeah, definitely more than 3 - Benny's tank is only a 29g I'm using 6 of the PAR38 bulbs over my 36x36x27" tank, and can suggest that 6-8 of them would be perfectly suited for a 36" cube - but you'd probably want 60 degree optics on at least 2 or 3 of the bulbs for varying spreads. All 6 of mine are 12k and 40 degree optics - I'd say it's too sharp & bright for my tastes, and that my fish seem to prefer it dimmer and/or more blue in spectrum. I may be changing to a more 20k (or bluer) spectrum overall in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Breeze Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 something like this might be nice, maybe with more than three bulbs though Yeah, definitely more than 3 - Benny's tank is only a 29g I'm using 6 of the PAR38 bulbs over my 36x36x27" tank, and can suggest that 6-8 of them would be perfectly suited for a 36" cube - but you'd probably want 60 degree optics on at least 2 or 3 of the bulbs for varying spreads. All 6 of mine are 12k and 40 degree optics - I'd say it's too sharp & bright for my tastes, and that my fish seem to prefer it dimmer and/or more blue in spectrum. I may be changing to a more 20k (or bluer) spectrum overall in the near future. I'm assuming those are par38 LED spot lights, If so where is the best place to get them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Rangoon Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I'm assuming those are par38 LED spot lights, If so where is the best place to get them? All depends on your budget.. Most people are using lamps from NanoTuners, and I am running lamps from EcoXotic. A fair number of folks are using PAR30 & PAR38 bulbs from RapidLED and BoostLED, as well - they are certainly cheaper than the bulbs offered by actual aquarium companies, but a bit less of a rep for what is probably some lesser R&D. People have had success with all of the brands though, regardless of color spectrum and wattage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I'm assuming those are par38 LED spot lights, If so where is the best place to get them? All depends on your budget.. Most people are using lamps from NanoTuners, and I am running lamps from EcoXotic. A fair number of folks are using PAR30 & PAR38 bulbs from RapidLED and BoostLED, as well - they are certainly cheaper than the bulbs offered by actual aquarium companies, but a bit less of a rep for what is probably some lesser R&D. People have had success with all of the brands though, regardless of color spectrum and wattage. These run in a regular light socket, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 If you want the Ecoxotic ones, I can get them for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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