lighting a 500 gal reef tank

[Joseph Montreal]

I'm haveing trouble deciding what kind of lighting to use on my new 500 gal reef tank. The dimensions will be 102"long by 34"deep by 34" wide. I intend to have sps and lps corals and about 2-3 inches of sand.

I was thinking of 1 icecap 660 with 3, 5" vho's This I have and 4, 400watts MH. I don't have.

Is this going to be enough. I know generally the MH cover 2' by 2' area. So i'm o.k. with the length but what about the Width? Should I have more that 4 MH?

I was going with mogul type bulbs. But I heard that that the HQI bulbs Have a bigger coverage. I also heard that the opposite. I hear that there is no standard yet in the HQI and I'm having trouble finding reflectors for them. So I am going to go with the Mogul type. I was thinking of getting 2 of these http://aquariacanada.com/osCommerce/product_info.php?cPath=1_74_90_95&products_id=500
The 36" dual 400 watt metal halide canopy here at Aquaria. But I'm not sure that they are electronic ballasts or not.


Are Electronic Ballasts better? I hear that they last longer use less electricity. I also heard that they don't give as much light as a regular ballast.

Then there is the bulbs themselves 10 000k, 14000k or 20,000k?
The more I research the more Confused I get.
What would you guys do.

[john rock]

I feel your pain pal! The choices in lighting are just insane and all personal taste. here Is what I know from owning a 36'' wide tank at 8feet long [500g].
4 halides on ''your'' tank will probaly not be enough for that length I will have 4 on mine and could probally go 6 if I didn't have a center brace and could afford all that hydro.
HQI, I think your talking about DE [double ended lamps]
these are an opption and can come in 250w and soon to be 400w. while there is a lot of debate on the 250w DE having as much light as a SE [singled ended, ''regular''] I personally do not believe it and DE lamps do not spread light as evenly so you have to raise them a bit to get the 2 foot spread like a SE.

On my tank because of eurobracing [which you probaly have] I went with FLUORECENT LIGHTS on both sides of the halides. for example, 1 VHO 660 ballast for the back and another for the front[I'm using NO on the front right now].
this way you have 4 x 4 foot lamps on the front and back covering alot while the MH are in the middle.

best way is to try to see other tanks and what there lit with and get an idea of what you like.

electronic versus magnetic: both good. lots of debate here. EL, are lighter,a bit cooler,waster less hydro[maybe under drive most lamps] and cost way more and I've been told they have a life span of 10years. but ICECAP state they can run any lamp[wether its to spec who really knows].

MN, ballast standard tar can run alot of lamps, are a little bulky
run bit warm but nothing extreme and are a lot cheaper and last along! time [I know some over 30years old] some say they overdrive lamps and waste hydro but I don't believe it.

[Joseph Montreal]

O.K. so if I need more MH How would they be placed?
4 closer to the front view of tank equally spaced and 2 more closer to the back of the tank Kind of like :


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mh mh



mh mh mh mh

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That's going to be tricky I have euro-bracing and 3 6" braces.

[Joseph Montreal]

Sorry that didn't work out. Just spread out the mh's

[john rock]

Ohh, I didn't know you had 3 cross braces. mmm
what is the inches between bracing? how deep is your tank with sand bed? you might be better off with DE pendants.
Say, 2X 250w DE pendants on a HQI ballast or ICECAP ballast
and a 2 foot VHO actinic in each open area [between braces]
It does depend on what you want to keep and were. you could just go with 1x 400w and 2x VHO 2 footers [one on each side of the MH] between each brace. you would have enough room to add another VHO 660 ballast for a total of 4 VHO 2 footers [2 per side of MH] for each opening. thats plenty of light! thats exactly what I'm going for. I would love to have 6 MH but thats very costly in hydro and heat.

[Joseph Montreal]

I will have basically 4 opening of 18" by 26".

Are you saying i should put 4, 400watts and 16, 2' vho's
or 4, 400watts and 8, 2' vho's

I already have a icecap 660 and 3 5' vho's, How many 2' vho can a 660 run. Is it not better to run the lamps the same whay the tank is long, say 2 times 4' in the back and 2 times 4' in front?

What if i can fit 2 400 in the two center opening and 1 each the other two openings. And run the 2 5' vho in front and the single 5' in back.
I have been reading that it's not the best to mix soft and hard coral. So I will go with hard corals only. But is it o.k. to mix sps and lps together is. They are both hard corals. So there should be no chemical ware fare. Or is it best only to have sps or only lps.

[john rock]

you'll want 1 MH per opening. thats about all you could fit in there if you want your VHO's as well. Yes you can run 16 feet of lamp per VHO660 ballast. I was thinking 1x VHO ballast in the front [parallel with tank] and 1 xVHO in the back. you could either use 2 foot lamps or 4 foot. doesn't matter just that maybe the 2 footers can get closer to the water[between braces] or the 4 footers can run across a braces. no big deal.
so to sum it up.
1x MH SE with reflector per space or...
2x MH DE pendants per space.

number #1 allows for 2 x VHO per lamp
number #2 might allow for only 1 per space.

you can either use 2 foot lengths or 4 foot it really doesn't matter but 4 footers are more available and would need less endcaps [best choice].
so 16 feet of VHO in front and 16feet of VHO in the back if you buy another ICECAP 660.

[Joseph Montreal]

I have never run a vho lamp. do they really light up the tank or will the 400watt MH overpower them. I mean if you shot off the vho while the mh are on will you notice that they are off?

The option #2 do you mean DE 250watts or 400Watts. and run 2 x 4' vho.

[john rock]

DE yes in 250w as 400w are still in testing phase.
VHO lamps are mostly used for actinics and/or daylight as well. you can mix and match. they are used along side the halides for color and to similate dawn/dusk effect[good for not shocking the fish! with light!] they work great as well but don't penetrate like MH thats why people use both.
you can run 4 x 4foot VHO on a single ICECAP660.
4 in the front, 4 in the back.

[Joseph Montreal]

I think i prefer going with the 4 x 400. I will probable start of with 1 icecap 660. If the vho's are used with the actinics (more blue right) then I could run 2 x 4' actinics and 2 x 50/50.

What temp mh would you go with 10000k or 14000k.

[john rock]

you could do that. rule of thumb is find the MH lamp color you like best and then you can experiment with the VHO's like trying more actinics,less actinic and so on.