New tank for new house.

[bdaley]

Ok, those of you that knew we lost our house this past Oct in a fire. We just closed on a new house in Danville NH last month and I just pulled the trigger on a Red Sea 525 XL in white for our kitchen area. the kitchen is white black and grey. My question, the tank is 59" long, 22deep and 22.6 wide. How do I light this for a mixed reef? I have been a Pro MH person forever but never had a tank this shallow. I also want a fixture/s that will look good in the house, I say no to DIY since I a lack of skills at that sort of thing. Current train of thought is the Aurora hybrid, comes in white I think and also just 59" Con is the $$$$$.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Brian

 

[wolffman1992]

I know that Love the Reef in Wilmington has a guy that builds custom light fixtures. Basically you pick what Leds and how many t5s you want and he will build them into a beautiful canopy. That's always an option. Also Ati makes a pretty sweet LED T5 combo fixture.

 

[bdaley]

Thanks for that info, I was not aware Archit did that.

 

[reefstarter]

T5 all the way or AI hydra

 

[s_kelley]

22" deep is still pretty decent, I have 2 250w halides over my shallow mixed reef and it's only 12" deep

 

[bdaley]

That is good to know, might just get a MH/T5 combo

 

[Reefless me]

I've been an avid MH user since 1997. Over my 135g mixed reef I used 3 400w 6500k halides and four 72 inch actinic 03 VHO's. That tank wasn't much deeper than yours. With a couple of four inch cooling fans(one at each end of the canopy) heat wasn't an issue.

In the summer my air conditioner kept everything temperature stable. I don't know if the double ended bulbs, being that much smaller than the mogul based bulbs, would throw off less heat would be an option. Just thought I'd share my experience with you.

Hope this helps

 

[bdaley]

I think I have narrowed it down to the Giesemann Spectra SE Metal Halide/T5 Fixture, or the Giesemann Aurora(the aurora because I do mostly softies and LPS) But the SPS I do buy aren't cheap and want them to do well. I need to decide what hybrid I want. I like this MH unit with its single end bulbs, I feel their temp just looks better than the DE ones. Also just bought 2 MP40QD, I love my gyres 130 and 150 it was just no ability to set a night speed on them makes me want to store them for my goal 300DD tank later down the road.

 

[bdaley]

What are peoples thoughts on running the XR30w Pro on this tank.