building 2300 gallon need help with lights

Discussion in 'LED Aquarium Lighting' started by bigfishtankguy, Oct 11, 2012.

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  1. bigfishtankguy

    bigfishtankguy Plankton

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    I hope this is a good first post.

    I am building a 2300 gallon tank. 15ft long 4ft deep 5ft high.

    This will be lots of area to cover with lights. I dont really have a set

    budget so I would like to get the best lights I can buy for my tank.

    #1 Great light coverage
    #2 Great control over the lights with ipad or android tablet or phone.

    Doing little research I was thinking of getting 4 of these lights. Which is about $10500 with small discount.

    Store Lighting Supplies LED Lighting

    direct website Eclipse Smart » Veritas Controls - Lighting The World

    One big reason I like them is the 6ft length.

    I was thinking 1ft space light 1 ft space light 1ft across tank = 15ft

    Then front to back i have 4ft to cover. so with 2 sets of double lights it should work.

    I could not make it to MACNA 2012 but I am sure there was a bunch of great new leds comging out soon.

    Could anyone help me out tell me if this seems to be a great set up or what you would do if this was your tank and you could spend about $10K to $15K on lights. Less works also. LOL
     
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  3. skurious

    skurious Sailfin Tang

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    Well thats a huge tank and you want control and power so you gonna need a lot of expensive lights. I would recommend ai vega or ecotech radion for controlability, but at that depth i just dont know.
     
  4. bigfishtankguy

    bigfishtankguy Plankton

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    both of those lights are only 12 in long and i have 15ft to cover was hoping to find some lights min 48in but the ones i am looking at are 72in

    seems most led are very short
     
  5. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    The depth might pose a problem. The LEDs do penetrate far but for 5 feet you might be stuck with 1000w halides with quality reflectors.

    Or maybe check into plasma lighting. That will have the depth and the intensity.
     
  6. anb

    anb Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Oh man! That sounds outrageous! I know this doesn't help, but plz do post pics. :)
     
  7. bigfishtankguy

    bigfishtankguy Plankton

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    i was trying to stay away from halides due to the heat.

    i have zero knowledge on plasma lights.

    do you have any info on which ones i would need for coverage
     
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  9. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    Do you plan corals?

    If so, halides are all you can do at those depths. You can get 750W Radium bulbs with some awesome reflectors and penetrate that depth. Each would cover a 2'x2' area.

    If you not doing coral, then you will still want some of the more powerful lighting to illuminate that depth, but it will not have to be as intense.

    I just can't see any of the current LED setups penetrating to those depths with any success.
     
  10. bigfishtankguy

    bigfishtankguy Plankton

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    i will be a picture ***** with the whole step by step process

    tank is not even built yet

    but it will be soon

    lights is one of the last itmes on the list i am not sure about.
     
  11. bigfishtankguy

    bigfishtankguy Plankton

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    i wont have any live coral so that helps but i do want full light in the tank with no shadows or dark spots.
     
  12. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    OK.... no corals makes a HUGE difference.

    Personally, I would do a massive led pendant array. Each pendant would be independently dimmable with a couple different colors to suit your taste. Each color independently dimmable and all pendants controlled with a controller.

    This setup would allow decent light at all depths, and the ability to do some amazing effects, such as clouds, storms, and sun following (my personal favorite).

    Almost any of the current controllable pendants would work for this... just depends on your budget and what you want.... Radions are expensive, but all wireless controllable, which would be awesome with a huge array of them.