Lighting for 44" tall reef

bigreefnutt · Apr 11, 2018

Currently designing a reef setup for a client where the reef tank will be 88"length x 30" width x 44" Tall. I have designed many tanks but never one of this size. Just wondering what would your recommendations be for a tank of this height. Looking to be a mixed reef

Montiman · Apr 11, 2018

bigreefnutt said:
Currently designing a reef setup for a client where the reef tank will be 88"length x 30" width x 44" Tall. I have designed many tanks but never one of this size. Just wondering what would your recommendations be for a tank of this height. Looking to be a mixed reef

The owner of a local service company in my area has a reef tank with a similar height lit by A360NEs and he is very happy. He uses a whole lot of them though like at least 10. My only experience with a reef tank that depth was a 96x48x48 that was in the LFS I used to work at. We used 4 400watt halides with supplemental t5s and grew a nice mixed reef. I wouldn’t rule out halides for a tank of that size. Often when the tank is this big there are no energy savings with LEDs and the heat issues don’t matter. A good example is Sanjays tank. He used to light it with 3 400 watt halides but now uses 8 radion pros at 100% at 180 watts each that is 1440 watts which is actually more power than the halides were.

rtparty · Apr 11, 2018

Halides with reflectors that focus more on depth penetration than spread. Probably going to have to be 400w but 250s MIGHT work depending on placement of corals

Breadman03 · Apr 11, 2018

No personal experience, but I would probably run 3x400 watt halides with appropriate reflectors and augments with some LED's if sunrise/sunset/moonlighting is desired.

bigreefnutt · Apr 12, 2018

I was hoping not to hear halide but that may have to be an option

Montiman · Apr 12, 2018

bigreefnutt said:
I was hoping not to hear halide but that may have to be an option

Is there a reason for not wanting halides? I personally have always liked halides though of the 5 tanks I have now none use them. The only reasons I didn’t like halides were the heat and electricity but in this case I don’t think either will be an issue.

bigreefnutt · Apr 12, 2018

Its an option that I will pass along to the client. I am ok with them. Just was hoping to go differently. I was thinking about the hybrid lights.

lbacha · Apr 12, 2018

Orphek atlantik v4's come in a narrow lense setup for tanks over 40" deep. They also have a atlantik pendant for even deeper tabks

bigreefnutt · Apr 12, 2018

Now there is what I was looking for

lbacha · Apr 13, 2018

bigreefnutt said:
Now there is what I was looking for

I have the v4 it is a very nice light, even spread over a big area (not sure how the spread will work with the narrow lenses) and so far it has been a breeze to set up and use

jda · Apr 13, 2018

Halide is your friend here. Seriously. The heat will be a good thing to keep the tank warm - heating is a huge cost in large tanks in the North.

The reflectors and low number of fixtures are also your friend. Put a few T5s on there for dusk/dawn and call it a day.

You will not find anything cheaper to cover the entire area than MH. I would do 250w Radiums on m80 ballasts with Lumen Max pendants which really penetrate. I would use 4 of the MH and a pair of 48" T5s on either side. 1200ish watts is not bad for a tank this size.