Yeah our tanks are really similar. I like the type of glass that was used for your overflow. Mine is just regular glass which will eventually be covered by some black plastic.

I don't think I would go with four 400w pendants. That seems like a lot although im sure it would be nice and bright. Would it be possible to use my current t5 setup resting on the overflow and build a support or hang a couple MH in the middle of the length to supplement the T5. The T5 would be sitting about 4 inches off the water. Could a MH sit in line with the T5 fixture that close to the water or do they have to be suspended higher? Or would that possibly just create a spotlight effect in the middle of the tank?

your t5's would be fine that close and would work on your overflow theres quite a few who do that with a center overflow like yours and if you have the room for halides i would put 2 x 250w in there as well. now the halides being that close is another issue if your using pendants i would be worried about splash or heat issues as they dont have any fans and run quite hot.

you could retrofit your t5's if you want to strip them and make a " canopy " using some halides and have it so your halides are higher than your t5's but still resting on your overflow:)

thats why i went with the light ring i want light all around i want it to be clean and i can mount whatever and change the height of anything i feel:):)


how are you gonna set this tank up against the wall or pennesula or island?????

show us some pics :):)

The tank was designed to allow a 4' photon (German) fixture to sit on the overflow extensions. The fixture had two halides and 6 T5s. The position of the halides was moved to the far outside edges of the the fixture which provided most of the light for the two sides of the tank. The fixture was wide enough that the T5s filled in the remaining parts of the tank.

If the tank isn't going to be viewable from all sides anymore I would suggest moving the overflow box to the back so you can light the tank easier with a standard 4' fixture.

If you can't move the box and you're pretty handy I would suggest building a fixture which uses either halides or LEDs. Two halides will not be enough, and T5s alone won't be ideal either.

The tank has four viewable sides so i'll make use of them and make it an island. It will be at the one end of my basement with enough room to walk around three of the sides. I also have a doorless closet near the wall where its going to go so probably try to squeeze in a nice chaise lounge on the other side for observing. I think I have some friends coming over tonight to move it down to the basement so i'll try to get some pics if I get it down there.

Yeah the more I look at the light ring you had made the more I like it. It leaves it nice and clean but you can still centeralize the wires and hide them pretty easy. That or possibly just pony up and get a two bulb MH fixture with the t5's built in.

totally agreed plus you dont want your halides on all day so your gonna want something and leds can fit just about into any plan.

i hope you plan on using the tank as all sides viewable gives you so much more room for growth and coral options:):)

I would be pretty easy to build a low profile fixture out of plywood a little smaller than the tank perimeter and then install LED modules in it or low profile halide retros or pendants. You can just get the pre-primed plywood and paint it black and have it sit on the overflow extensions. It would look pretty sharp. This was an option the previous owner and I considered at the time of the build but we went with a stock fixture because it was easier at the time as a lot of other work was needed.

Thanks for all the great info and ideas here guys. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of a canopy until you described it like that. It makes a lot more sense with just pendants and led's without trying to cram that t5 fixture in there as well. So i might just have to raise the canopy a bit higher off the water and add some fans for cooling the pendants. And with the led's being more a more focused beam it wont matter if they sit higher up off the water?

I was kind of suggesting either LEDs or Halides, you could do both I guess but I think it would be better to go with one or the other. For LEDs they will be fine that high but you'll want to use narrower optics and possibly more LEDs tighter together. The halides will be a much cheaper option and easier to setup, you'll just need 4 250W DE retro kits.

Hmm, gets me thinking to either go with three or four 250w pendants in the canopy or strictly led. How many led's would you suggest to still provide enough light for some higher demand corals/sps or anenome.

No offense, but can I ask why you would run one or the other but not both togeather.

Hmm, gets me thinking to either go with three or four 250w pendants in the canopy or strictly led. How many led's would you suggest to still provide enough light for some higher demand corals/sps or anenome. Also how are the led's controlled. Would I need a specific controller to power up power down the led's or could I just run them to a timed powerbar.

No offense, but can I ask why you would run one or the other but not both togeather.