Lighting Question? 110 gallon 30 in. Tall

[Reef Noob]

Hi I am verry new here. I plan on setting up a reef tank I was wondering if any of the experts out there could give me any suggestions on lighting? I already have purchased a coralife 48" 230 watt compact flourescen fixture in addition to this what else should i get?

Thanks

[Cunch]

Hello,

I too have a 110g tall tank, I have not yet setup the tank due to a very busy couple of months at work, but my plan for lighting this tank is: 2 x 400w Metal halides and probably a couple of 48" long VHO Flourescents or 2 x 22" PC compacts to create a near 4 foot length.

I was looking at making my own light system, (Reading on that Buildng a metal halide system for less $100.00) obviously it would be more, but the ballasts themselves is what I was looking on that site for.

Anyone have any thoughts on the dual 400w Advanced ballasts? Any restrictions or problems with that ballast?

Hope this helps and anyone who answers my above question thank you!

Cunch

[tendar]

Reef Noob light will kind of depend on what you want to keep for corals. What you have now is a min for any corals in the softies catagorie with a 30" tall tank. You will be better of with halides with a deep tank like that.
250's would be good for most corals with sps at the top of the tank but 400's like Cunch would best to penetrate into the lower end of the tank then you could keep about anything you wanted.

Cruch I have not used any of the Advance ballast so could not say and I have not used 400's alway run 250's on icecap ballasts.

[Cunch]

Thanks for the heads up... I am debating on DIY light fixture or simply spending the money on a dual 400w with 2 110 VHO lights on it.. Any thoughts of a good place to purchse a product like that? (Retro-Fit) I will be making a new canopy for this tank!

Thanks in advance.

Cunch

[Reef Noob]

thanks for the info guys i have another question when i do get the halide lamps shoud i still use the compacts? and how long should i run each fixture for each day

thanks
reef noob

[tendar]

Just about all the online suppliers get about the same price for lighting so it really is just looking around for one on sale or some thing and they will most all price matchy.
The compacts can be used for actinic supplemention along with the halides. I would go a min of 8 hours a day and a max of 12 hours aday.

[Cunch]

Sorry Reef Noob for jumping in with a question on top of yours.. I should have started my own topic.. My appologies!

Cunch

[Reef Noob]

no problem we're all here to learn no biggie
every bit of info hels

reef noob