400 gallon reef lighting system diy

[bgk]

i want to make a lighting system for a 400 gallon reef i was thinking of having (well i asked a marine biologist) about the lights it will have blue actinics then white then halide then led all timed is there any electricians out here to explain to me how ballasts work ect do you have 1 ballast for each light or one big one and with all those 240 volt power cords with the pointed ends that plug into the walls what do i do with all those to make it only have 1 wire and a timer that times it so the blue actinics then the white actinics then the halides then they turn off vise versa and then moonlights

thanks

 

[Clay]

Reef doesn't mean halides, nor t5, nor PC, nor LED. Your livestock dictates your lighting requirements. Softies will typically require less light, and stonies will more often than not require a lot more lighting. This is typically where MH lighting comes in. As far as color spectrum, there is also a lot of variation here. You'll need more than "a reef" to determine the lighting. Or, you can go ahead and plan for MH lighting (assume a chiller too - MH gets pretty hot) and based on the lumens at different levels of the tank, you'll know what kind of stock you can keep.

The rest of the question... wow. Let's start with what I can answer. 1 ballast per light, or maybe 1 ballast per fixture depends on what you're trying to do, but I haven't seen a setup that runs different lighting off of a single ballast. I'm assuming that there isn't a lot of DIY happening here, and this will be a purchase off the shelf. I would assume this is your best bet. To "make it have 1 wire" you'll need a controller.

This might be a bigger financial commitment than you're willing to make. Search some sites for pricing and determine if this is what you're really looking to spend.