Lighting question

[asylumdown]

So... here's the deal:

I'm building a tank in the wall of my new house. It will be open on two sides, basically it will be acting as the wall between the office and the dining room. Tank Dimensions:

6 foot long, 34 inches wide, 30 inches tall. Approx 320 gallons.

I'm pretty squared away on all elements in the tank except one - the lighting.

As the tank is built in to a wall, the lights are going to be completely enclosed. We're going to have one side of the 'canopy' (not a true canopy, more like the wall cavity above the tank) be a vented screen that I can easily lift away (think window shutters), but heat will still be an issue.

The tank is wide and deep, so I'm concerned about penetration and spread. I've seen umpteen threads regarding LED lighting recently, but I

a) don't trust the technology yet, I will want to see at least a dozen award winning SPS tanks that have been growing on nothing but LEDs for at least 2 years before I'll spend that kind of cash. Almost all of what I read about them talks about their energy efficiency, and their programmability, etc. etc., but I don't really care about any of that if they don't put out the wavelengths of light corals need to grow.

b) don't understand 80% of what people are talking about when they discuss LED technology.

c) LED technology seems to be changing and improving so fast I think I'd rather wait until the technology is more mature before I spend the kind of dollars LED systems command.

I'm thinking I might end up with a combination of all three common lighting systems, MH, VHO T5s, and LEDs - using the LEDS for night lighting. I would like to have enough light to grow anything I want, and I want to be able to mimic the phases of the moon in the most realistic and automated way possible.

Since my tank is so wide, I suspect I'm going to need pendent MH fixtures, as opposed to a pre-fab strip, with the VHO's and LED lights in between.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best brands, or if there is such a thing as an out of the box LED light strip designed just for night cycles, with moon phases pre-programmed in? I'm not exactly a DIYer, so the more pre-fab I can get the better.

[freezetyle]

I would probably say MH would be best for your main lights. They would allow you to get the best spread for the dollar. and then supplement with a t5 or prefab. LED strip like the reefbrite so you are still getting some power from them. I think i was reading on here that greg from coral master could get in the reefbrite strips. they are probably on the more expensive side. (255 per 24") but you wouldnt have to replace them every 9-12 months. but there is nothing wrong with t5's

i have heard great things about these moon lights. they are on the more expensive side but you can control them to do moon cycles like all of the fancy led fixtures. but you need both the lights and the controller
http://www.progressivereef.com/prodd...hp?prod=RM1131
http://www.progressivereef.com/proddetail.php?prod=R22

[asylumdown]

Thos moonlights look great, exactly what I need. To be honest, they're a lot less than I was expecting, considering an LED tank light can run in the multiple thousands of dollars.

It says that a package of two lights can cover 6 feet, I'm having a hard time believing that. Fr a 6'X3' tank, 4-6 spaced off centre to each other should be enough shouldn't it?

[freezetyle]

i actually think they might be able too the lights are angled kind of like a rakes teeth //I\\ so they give you a spread. but yea. if you really wanted to add more it would not hurt anything

[xtreme]

I have a couple of those R2 moonlight I don't use if you want to buy them, or you can just come check out the light they put out. I don't think just 2 of them will be enough to cover your tank.

[Milad]

Let me suggest you go look at a tank with CREE LEDs on it before you knock the LEDs. They really make the color pop on corals.

Quality LEDs, not cheap LEDs. There is a big difference.