lighting behaviour of reefers

[Invigor]

I'm just looking for what people are running for lights around here and if you're satisfied with them. Information I'm seeking are as follows

Size of tank: ex. 105 gal, 60Long x 20Deep x 20tall

Lighting schedule: how long are lights on, do you have a dawn/dusk period or just bathe them with everything you've got?

Light style: normal output flourescent (t8), high output flourescent(t5), very high output (vho t12), power compact flourescent (pc), metal halide (mh), dare I say incondescent?

Light power: 4x40w NO, 2x96 watt PC, 2x250w MH, etc.

If you're running NO: what combination of bulbs do you use? cool white 4100k, actinic, daylight 6500k?

If you're running HO t5s: what combo of lamps, what ballast, etc?

If you're running VHO: what color temp of bulbs, what ballast(s) do you use?

If you're running PC: 10k,actinic,50/50, diy or "off the shelf" setup?

If you're running MH: what bulb, who makes it, what color temp? what ballasts, how big, style (hqi, eye, pulse, tar)?

And a small opinion of your lighting system. are you happy with it, what do you like about it, what don't you like about it? what would you have instead if you're not happy with it? and how do your corals (given you have them) react to your lighting versus your last setup (again, give you've had a previous)

Thank you for your time.

[Bob I]

I was never able to buy any flourescents in the store, so I don't use them. I asked for them, but they said they have never stocked them.

[mr_alberta]

Tank Size: 23Lx23Wx23H

Lights on: 8:30AM
Lights off: 7:30PM

250W MH DE in a Sun Light Supply Reef Optix 3+ Pendant driven on a Reef Fanatic 250W Electronic Ballast. The bulb is a 14000K CoralVue I believe...

So far I like the color of the bulb and the compactness of the pendant. Also, running a pendant allows me to run open top which I prefer much more. I keep mainly SPS with a pair of small BTA's and everything seems to grow well, though my SPS do brown out sometimes (I don't know if its a light thing or a water quality thing or both). If I had to do it again, I would probably sell my electronic ballast and get an HQI ballast just so I can run my bulbs harder and get that little extra oomph.

[trilinearmipmap]

120 gallon 48" x 24" x 24"

All lights on for 12 hours per day

T5 Sunlight supply pendant lighting, 8 x 54 Watt T5 bulbs
4 - CoralVue 60/40 bulbs
2 - Blue plus
2 - Actinic

I am fairly happy with it, I like the low heat. If I were going to do it again I would have gotten 2 x 150 Watt MH system.

[muck]

40 Gal 36" x 15" x 18" approx.

36" AquaLight 2-96W PC
1 - 10000K
1 - Actinic

The actinic is on from 9am - 11pm.
The 10000K is on from 10am - 10pm.

I have a mix of SPS, LPS and softies. Everything is growing happily in my tank. My lighting is ok for what I have. I would like to get more into SPS and Clams though. But that is why Im going to set up another tank. I would definately like to have 250W MH on the new tank. Then this tank will be mostly softies and some LPS corals.

[Bayside Corals]

I have used tham all. Ive used PC's T5's VHO and MH.

I currently run the following:
72"L 30"H 24"W 230 gallon.
3 X 400 SE metal Halide 10K XM's (PFO tar ballast)
2 x 6' VHO Actinic
Actinics on for 12 hours, Halides on for 8 hours.

I keep SPS, zoo's and other LPS corals. I find the Metal halide bulbs wash out some of the zoo's color, where as PC's made my zoo's look the best.
Everything seems to grow well under this lighting combo but I may add another 2 VHO for a more blue look. I like the metal halides the best out of all the lighting combo's I have tried.

Colby

[christyf5]

Size of tank: 90gal, 48x18x24
Lighting schedule: 10h (noon-10pm, fully bathed )

Lights: 2x40W NO actinics on home depot ballast, 2x250W Iwasaki 6500k MH on 2 Advance H37 EYE ballasts

I love my lighting system, most don't and feel it is too yellowy. I feel the actinics complement and add just the right amount of blue. This is the only lighting setup I have had for this tank.

Christy

[Buccaneer]

Size of tank: 269gal, 72x24x36
Lighting schedule: 8h (1:30 - 9:30)

Lights: 4 X 400W tar ballast , Sun Aquatics 1000k MH

[Richer]

Tank size: 36"x12"x18" (lxwxh)

9:00am: 95W VHO Actinic on
11:00am: 2x175W MH on
9:00pm: 2x175W MH off
11:00pm: 95W VHO Actinic off

I keep a mixture of almost everything and they're all doing quite well from what I can tell. The only complain I have is that my green digitata is more tan/brown with a hint of green. If I had to do it again, I would go with a 2x250W MH setup instead. Perhaps something to think about during the summer when I'm off school and on a full time job again

-Rich

[Rikko]

Tank: 65AGA. 36Lx18DX24H

Lights are on a timer from 9am-11pm. The dawn and dusk effects are *cough* achieved by having the lights on the FW tank below it come on a little bit earlier and shutting off a little bit later which bathes the room in light.

Lights: 2xHO T5 (39W) 6400K 2xNO T5 (21W?) 20000K. Upper refugium/surge tank is lit by a Coralife mini Aqualight with 2x9W PCs.

Powered with a Workhorse 7 ballast mounted on the back of the canopy (with a large sheet of aluminum flashing sandwiched there to allow for heat dissipation)

Each bulb has a SLS clip-on parabolic reflector I got from Reefgeek.


I'm thrilled by it. The first T5s I saw kind of snagged me and I've been a fan ever since. The tank colour is excellent and it's very bright. There are mild shimmer lines that the halide folks so love, but not so much as to get annoying (I find halide shimmer makes me nauseus). Corals thus far are doing exceptionally well (mostly LPS with one unidentified SPS and some shrooms), but I hesitate to say they're thriving until I've had them at least a year and have seen definite growth.