so the tank is two foot long and 18 inches deep, I would like to keep all things possible not meaning I will put to much in but Im looking for lighting to cover all bases. what do you think would be best thanks for your help.

i would look at a T5 fixture or a 150 w MH fixture
start there, and see what other questions you have on them

the MH will give more heat, and use more electricity but will allow you to keep pretty much anything

metal halide all the way. if you are truly serious about being able to keep anything. otherwise, you'll just hate yourself for not spending a bit more.

t5 are also reliable for reef keeping. imo with the right combo of t5's. you can achieve some beutiful colors, comparable with mh w/atinics

so here are the choices I'm lookin at,
280 watt w/ 2 lunar lamps(1-150 watt hqi) 2-65watt actint or
380 watt w/ 2 lunar lamps(1-175 watt hqi) 2 65watt actint, which do you think, tanks only 18" deep and I would like some clams 2-3 inch sand bed.

stonepilot, what brand?

coral life

is there a reason why ur swaying to t5?
its only a 2 foota, one mh in my opinion would be sufficent tp meet clam needs

I personally use T5 (in addition to MH), because it's much more cost-effective in terms of electricity AND I like the color effect...

Some people purely use T5 and their corals and clams seem to thrive.

i can see where ur & others are coming from with the t5 thing. personally i like them, and hey, who wouldn't like a reduction in the power bill. but i cant speak for other countries for costings, but an ok T5 unit is the same price for a decent retro MH setup. & i would have thought u would what to " pimp my lighting" as much as u could for the likes of lighting loving animals. suppliment actinc's setup are cheap as a slab of beer & abottle of nice scotch

just my 10cents, im upping the value...lol

I agree that the units/ballasts may have similar costs, but in terms of 1-5 years of electricity bills, I'd be psyched with the difference between 400W and 24W! :-)

Actually, what I'd love to have are these new LED-sourced lighting that Amphibious has been talking about. I'd invest the extra money, considering the electricity bills would be drastically reduced (I've got 3 X 400W MH for my new set up!!!!) AND the bulbs don't need to be replaced every 6-12 months. They're supposed to last for 5 years! I'm sure you get that extra initial investment back out pretty quickly.

as i said i do understand this point. its a valid view point. the bills and the frequency of change over bulbs are abit of a drag on the funds.

im mustard to check out these new LED's!!! once i get some feed back i'll definately put an order in, thats if i can get my spendings cards back, at the moment my partner has me on funds arrest. i cant even buy any add-ons for the xbox...:( its even hard to milk out enough money for fuel.....lol

check out pfo hoods. i have a 150 mh w/vhos. i love them. the only thing i dont like about t5's are that they dont have that shimmering effect like mh's.

yep, shimmy effect got to love it, simple to recreate. simple down light with dirrectable gamble in the hood. granted its not the correct wavelenght, but it creates that effect easy without MH.

Is this what you use Veriann? What's a gamble?

yeah i have used them for my tanks cause they are cheap & provide the shimmy effect without MH,as i mentioned, its the completely wrong spectum, but ur not using them to grow animals,
expo on a gamble.......ok
u know haigen downlights, u know how some can be moved to point in any dirrection, that mech. is called a gamble. its the circular track around the bulb that moves the unit to your focus dirrection.

ah ha! Thanks Veriann! :-)

if you really want to high light certain areas of corals, try a row of halogen spot track lights. but you can only use it to show off you tank, they run really hot

to be honest, i find one light- only at one of the ends is better of for the effect. just my personal opinion but the light that it casts is more like the sun in the afternoon with a spread shimmy on the bottom in one dirrection. as long as u have a ripple on the surface in front of the light beam its beautiful. the spot track is a good idea for the hightlight idea though, u can move them to where u need them if im thinking of the same thing.

just got to stress to noobs that this is just for esthetic look that the MH creates as standard. if u have T5 then it can be used to supply that effect. this spectum is not used for growth, infact u have to watch that to much of this lighting can indeed grow the things that we are trying to avoid in our tanks, proberly another reason why i Would only go one.

anyone tried a disco mirror ball? its crazy. i read it was big at one time in norway. maybe Reefbaby has some insight being close by.

lol, ur not kiddin are u?

lol, ur not kiddin are u?
not this time buddy, check out nilsen and fossa: modern coral reef aquarium. can't remember which one.(1,2,3) too much blubber to drag around to check my books.

yeah ive read some works of these geezers awhile back, never come across a disco ball included in the script. and here i thought sprung was the one with left field ideas that push the envelope of success.

it all sounds abit toooo retro for me...lol

i would love to hear the gains to this project though

I've never seen ANYone using a disco ball, but that sounds pretty fab man. I'll have to try it out at our next party! :-)

That nasty boogy buster>>>>>>>>>>>>>"I can't dance, i cant dance, everybody take a look at my pants"

:cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :p