Lighting a 5x3 tank?

[Silencer]

I've been considering getting a 6x3x2 size tank. The tank would have 6" overflows on each end making the actual display area of the tank 5x3x2 (-edit- see image in first reply for image of layout). I would like to view the tank from both long sides. The question is, how the hell do you light a 5x3x2 area of a tank with metal halides and ONLY metal halides?

 

Originally I was going to do a standard 6x2x2 180g but I saw some pictures of some really nice tanks and now want to be able to have two rows of rocks. I CAN adjust the size of the tank to make the lighting easier but it MUST be wide enough to have 2 decent size rows of rocks. I figure the minimum width for the tank is going to be 30" and the maximum width about 42" or MAYBE

48".

 

-Edit- Removed some stuff that wasn't relevant anymore

 

What makes it difficult is that I do not want ANY VHO or PC or any non-MH lighting on during the day. It's just a personal thing. I think non-MH bulbs reduce the shimmer effect and beauty of MH bulbs and it would bother the hell out of me even if nobody else noticed it. I wouldn't be happy with mixed lighting because of this so I want to go with only MH bulbs for the main daytime lights. I have been looking at 250w HQI bulbs but can adjust this as needed. Any suggestions are appreciated because I simply don't have enough experience with tank lighting to know what will work and what wont. Thanks.

[senorpyro]

i assume this tank will be glass, not acrylic - right? as with large acrylic tanks, you're asking for trouble if you place a mh over the acrylic bracing - they MUST be placed directly over the cutouts, or you're asking for a disaster. just ask the poor 180 i just picked up. there's about a 6" crack in the top bracing. totally repairable, though definitely not if it were fully set up with water in it.

 

 

anyways, besides that, i don't quite follow what you're saying regarding the overflows: ok, so they'll be 6"x6", but that still leaves 2 feet from the edge of the overflow to the front of the tank, so as far as i'm concerned, that doesnt change the tanks viewable are ato 5x2.5x2, it still remains 6x2.5x2.

 

my first thought, might be to do 3 250 HQI's, in a triangular setup. have the front two placed say, 1 foot from either side, and a foot from the front. have the back one placed dead center a foot from the back. this way you're not neglecting the sides of the tank like your post makes it sound like you're going to.

[Silencer]

Sorry I didn't explain it well. Here is a picture of the shape I was thinking of. The 6" overflows on each end would be the entire width of the tank. That is how I get the 5x2.5x2 display area for a 6x2.5x2 tank.

 

http://unrealdev.net/images/temp/tanklayout.gif

 

I've placed several sets of colored dots to show potential light placements that I've thought of. For example the 3 red dots down the center would be a standard layout for a 6x2x2 180g tank. The problem is that with my tank being a little wider and having two rows of rocks I'm worried that there would be shadows on the two long display sides of the tanks. The other layouts seem like they would all cast shadows too though, except the 6 pink lights, but that would be more expensive and I'd have to get 175w mogul instead of 250w hqi bulbs. When it comes down to it my problem is that I simply don't have any experience with MH lights. I simply don't know how these various layouts would REALLY look and the 2x2 standard doesn't really help in this case.

 

As far as glass or acrylic goes I don't really care, although I do see one major problem with glass in my case. I need five 2" bulkheads in each overflow. I just don't think glass will be able to support that many holes in the bottom of the tank. A more minor considerations is that I want the overflows to be opaque black on all sides. I don't know how easy or possible that is with glass as I haven't looked into it yet. So basically it comes down to the price difference and if a glass tank could even be made with so many holes in it.

[senorpyro]

ok, i see what you mean now, i wasnt following originally.

 

IMO, your best bets would be the green dot setup, with the red dot being next best. is there any reason you'd prefer the moguls to the hqi's, as the hqi's put out signifigantly more light than the moguls per watt.

[Silencer]

I don't prefer the moguls at all. I would much rather have 250w HQI bulbs. The problem is that 250w HQI are more expensive so depending on how many bulbs I need I may not be able to afford it. The moguls are simply a cheaper alternative. I think though, that perhaps the best option is to start with 3x 250w HQI bulbs even if I know I'm going to need more. Later on I could add the rest of the bulbs once I had the money. It might leave dark areas in the tank to start out but this would probably be a better long-term solution, wouldn't it?