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connordog 
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 Topic: What Kind of Lights do I Need??
Posted: June 10 2010 at 5:44pm |
I just got a 55 gallon tank and I am wondering what kind of lighting I would need for just fish and also what kind of lighting I would need for fish and coral? If anyone has the right lights and is looking to sell them, PM me.
thanks
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bowens415
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Posted: June 10 2010 at 6:50pm |
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I would consider going with LED's just for the savings in power bill if you can get the led's it would also make your colors look alot better. JMO
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Aquaristnewbie
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Posted: June 10 2010 at 7:02pm |
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For a fish only tank you can use whatever lights you want. For corals you need more powerful lights to support their growth. And each type of coral requires different amounts of light so it all depends on what you are planning on keeping. YOu could go with a 4-8 bulb t5 fixture or halides or LEDs would work great. They even have a some new fixtures that would not support many corals but would be fine over a fish only tank that uses small amounts of electricity.
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150 gallon Reef
Millcreek Utah
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bugzme
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Posted: June 10 2010 at 7:48pm |
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LOL I would go with t-5's
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
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I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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connordog
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 6:00pm |
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Ahanix
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 6:04pm |
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Since you are just going fish only I would suggest LED's also. Low Energy cost, you wont need a ton of them, plus your tank will look great. Plus you could build a layout where if you really wanted to grow corals you can add more later.
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 6:13pm |
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Leds are not proven yet! Why tell people they are the best when you really don't know. Experimentation is good but let's see what happens before we start saying they are the best. Just my 2 cents
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
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I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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SGH360
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 6:33pm |
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LED are really new to this hobby thus we do not know everything. they are the most expensive to start a new tank. even DIY kits alot of time spent. T5 would be a good lighting for your 55
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bowens415
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 7:05pm |
 bugzme wrote:
Leds are not proven yet! Why tell people they are the best when you really don't know. Experimentation is good but let's see what happens before we start saying they are the best. Just my 2 cents |
Nobody is saying they are the best but since the post mentioned Fish only then that would be a nice option to consider with the amount of money that would be saved in electricity. plus the colors of the fish will stand out alot more. JMO
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 7:44pm |
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Really how much money would you save over t-5's or any other bulb? A watt is a watt and they cost the same
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
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I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 7:50pm |
Are you being billed by power factor? If they were so great for energy consumption wouldn,t you think all the goverment place I.E airports would be using them?
I have been an electrician for over 40 years and I know what the government trends are.
You can't fool me! but I really don't care!!!! bs is bs anyway you look at it!  |
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
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I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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Ahanix
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 7:56pm |
bugzme wrote:
Really how much money would you save over t-5's or any other bulb? A watt is a watt and they cost the same |
I don't know how the energy savings are compared to t5's but without optics the 12 led fixture that I am using (that uses 23w total) is comparible to a 150w MH. So compared to those, its a pretty huge difference. I'll see what info I can dig up about the larger fixtures though
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:01pm |
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Like I said a watt is a watt! I really hope that the led's work but I have seen very little evidence that they do! as you know I have pm'd you to give you a frag of a highend acro to see what they do. All you need to do is come and get it.
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
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I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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sterling18
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:13pm |
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For fish only, go with T8 or T12. You home depot specials.
For coral, it's really up to you. PC, MH, T5HO or LED.
Folks have grown under all forms of light.
I like MH for the shimmer.
Other folks like T5HO.
And then the LED crowd really like the DIY LED. They give off amazing color, consume a lot less power and is smaller in footprint. Are they unproven, yea, but they said they said the same thing when T5HO's game out.
Go with what you want. Check out other peoples builds and see what you like.
It's sixes if you compare T5HO and MH when it comes to run cost.
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:36pm |
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sterling, do you have a mh fixture over your nano?
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
Rum drinker, Carbon User
I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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Ahanix
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:39pm |
bugzme wrote:
Like I said a watt is a watt! I really hope that the led's work but I have seen very little evidence that they do! as you know I have pm'd you to give you a frag of a highend acro to see what they do. All you need to do is come and get it. |
Sounds great to me Jeff, I pm'ed you. I would come grab it tonight, but I live about an hour away and I don't want to come bother you that late at night  I'll see if I can't swing by tomorrow or Monday at the latest
Thanks again
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Ahanix
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:45pm |
The only big defense I have for LED's is this build thread. The guy had LED's for 8 months over his tank, he decided to use the LED's for something else and threw a 150w MH fixture over his tank. Here is a picture of the LED's and a picture of a month after he threw the MH fixture over. Take note of the coloration of the Birdsnest in the top middle.
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:45pm |
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Sounds good! Maybe we should have a race? I'll supply the $50.00 frags and loser pays over a 2month period of time. If you win you get the frag free and if I win you pay me $50.00
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
Rum drinker, Carbon User
I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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Chad
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:48pm |
Just to throw out my thoughts, lumens output on lighting varies in a lot of ways and power consumption versus wattage output varies also, you can run two lights with the same wattage output and they can have very different power consumption (which is what you are charged for, how much power is used) For example a magnetic and electronic ballast on the same Metal halide light output are going to have a different power consumption rate. That being said aside from the power savings which really isn't going to be much on a 55 gallon tank, if you don't have to worry about whether or not corals will grow under the led's they would save you some money in the long run on bulb replacement. I'm not saying that LED's are the best but they have been used in the industry since about 2004 and there are wholesale and coral farms in LA that have been using them for years and claim they are having great success with them and here is a guy who has a build thread on reef central and he put led's over his tank and he has a video on youtube after he built the led's and he has another video of the growth one year later and the softies didn't like it, but all of his sps and most other corals are doing great and you can see the growth from the video. Again that is just after one year but it does look pretty promising.
Just my thoughts though I'm not trying to stir the pot here but thought I would add a little to the post! I am almost finished setting up my 40 breeder with only LED's over it and I'm going to be trying SPS in there so we will see if it works out good or not, I like to research as much as I can but the bottom line is that until we do it ourselves we never really know what the end result will be.
Man, I wasn't planning on writing a book..... Chad.
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What?! You pooped in the refrigerator, and ate the entire wheel of cheese?! I'm not even mad.... That's actually amazing!
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bugzme
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Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:50pm |
Chad the same deal is for you! acropora. What if 1 or 2 of the bulbs burn out and you have no light be it white or blue? What will that cost you in growth and time to take the canopy down and replace them? Ever had a string of xmas lights burn out? Now that is frustration and it doesn't have anything depending on it for life!
I don't care what you guys run but don't recommend it to someone asking what they need for a new tank. Lot's of ways to do things but people need to know they are in the early stages of development.
Edited by bugzme - June 11 2010 at 8:57pm
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Jeff
125 tank
50 gallon sump
T-5 lighting
Rum drinker, Carbon User
I KNOW ROCKS THAT ARE YOUNGER THEN ME!! I AM A Realist! I write what I think!!
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