Lighting for 40 gallon breeder

dltt

Member
Hi all, I am pondering the idea of a 40 gallon breeder, and have been researching lighting. Primarily, I believe it will be sps tank and I am looking at 36in Metal Halide HQI System Advance Plus for my lighting. On my 10 gallon nano I have a 72w (2x12000K, 18W) and (2xActinincs, 18W), and so far I have been pleased with this product. Does anyone have any other experience with these folks, or any other reccomendations on lighting for a 40 breeder? Thanks as always for the opinions!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
While it would work, the single 250w bulb in the fixture is going to give a bright center and dim ends in the tank. Unless you specifically want that effect, it's a less than ideal choice.

Generally you can figure one MH bulb will light up about 2 linear feet of a tank, your trying to cover a 3 ft tank with 1 bulb. You could use a pair of 150w or 175w MH bulbs in a fixture or as two pendants, but that would cost a lot more. I think your best choice for a 40 gal breeder is a 36" long 4 bulb or 6 bulb T5 fixture. It should have individual reflectors for each bulb. It wouldn't be that much more expensive and you'd get much more even lighting, with far less heat to deal with.
 

Reddog170

Active Member
Grab a good T5 fixture. Les heat, better light spread and more options on bulb color. I just switched from MH on my 40 breeder and am VERY glad I did. My anemones and clam are happy and my SPS seem to be responding quite well and showing more growth tips. Shaun
 

aabjones888

New Member
i have an icecap 250 mh with a 20k bulb and it is great for my 40 breeder, if u have it 6 inches off the water it covers the whole tank fine. I dont know much about that partcular fixture you are looking at but my light does fantastic. I have 2 rose anemones and 2 different clams and there scattered in different places in the tank and they have been fine for over 6 months. Theyve alll showed great growth. It also depends on your rockwork.
 

PEMfish

Well-Known Member
You can build your own T5 HO setup pretty easily. Any kind of wood enclosure (hood) with a fan or two ( important! ) will do. You can keep it cheap by using low grade pine and painting it, and keeping to door / opening configuration simple.

You will need ballasts to run the bulbs, bulbs, reflectors ( important! ), and the hood w/ fans. I can give you more detailed instructions and tips if your interested. Ive built a few myself.

For a 6 bulb fixture ( max amount of T5 you can have ( 6 x 3" reflectors = the full 18" )) :

Ballasts; Fullham makes good cheap electronic ballasts. Stay away from magnetic ballasts, they are harsh on the bulbs causing premature ware. GE and Advance make good top of the line programed start ballasts. I buy from 1000 Bulbs, best pierces, service and selection. F39T5 - Fluorescent Ballasts | 1000Bulbs.com You will need 2 of the cheaper ones ( $28 a piece ) or 3 of the expensive ones ( $40 a piece ). In your situation I would go with the Workhorse 5 ( $28 one ). Doesn't have all the bells and whistles but still high quality.
$56


Bulbs; On-line will be you best bet price wise. I recommend 3 actinic and 3 10k. Avoid Foster and smith as they do not know how to pack them. They tried to ship them to me 4 times. UV lighting Company has some really good stuff, right under Giesemann. Your looking at a bout $19-24 per bulb with 20 average. So we'll say $120.

Reflectors are worth there weight in gold to me. They help alot. Get the good polished parabolic ones. They cost about $23 a piece no matter the size. So instead of getting 6 34" get 3 56" and cut them in half. You will save about $69.
Total for all 3; $69.

The hood, there have already been posts in other threads about this so I wont go into it unless you are going to build one.
The fans are very important. If the bulbs get to hot they will self destruct. If they are taken care of they will last about 18 months. If let get hot only 2 or 3. There is no form of passive cooling that will work. They must be air cooled, they should never be hot to the touch, only warm. Cheap fans are noisy.
I'll say $30 for fans and $ 30 for the hood, but that can up depending on what you want.

So a 6 bulb top of the line DIY T5 HO we are looking at about $300. If you were to buy it you would pay $450 - $700.
A four bulb fixture would run you about $250 DIY.
 
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