Lighting

[oceandeep85]

So, after months and months of pining over one of those 120W Dimmable LED light boxes that everyone's heard so much about, I pulled the trigger and bought one on Ebay. Well, as expected, it was a complete and utter bust and I've been battling with the seller to return it for about a week now. You could hear the triple PC fans on the box from anywhere in my apartment. It turned my living room into a warehouse and it really wasn't that bright.. oh and dimmable? sure, if by dimmable you mean there's only one setting and if you adjust it, the lights blink... it's a nightmare.

Basically, I'm looking to upgrade my lighting. All of my corals are doing very well. My LPS (frogspawn, duncan) have too many new heads to count, full extension, great color, beautiful movement.. just really great pieces. My Orange Monti Digi is doing extraordinarily well too, but it's slow growing. I see lots of white fringes indicating healthy growth and there's vivid orange color with awesome polyp extension. My sour apple birdsnest, however, only the tips are the green color and the rest is rust/orange/brown. The funny thing is, it's growing much faster than my Orange Monti Digi. I know my parameters are in order and the tank is stable and I've read that this can be caused by too little light. So, therefore, I'm looking for suggestions on upgrading.

I currently have one 20" T5HO strip with one actinic and one daylight.

I'm looking to add a few more montis in different colors over the next few months and want to make sure I have good lighting. I am also hoping the lighting will help my birdsnest color up.

I still have the standard 10 gallon and everything's healthy.. but I was looking at two options. Could you give me any suggestions or tell me which of the two I should consider going with?

Metal Halide:
http://www.aquatraders.com/Aquarium-Metal-Halide-MH-B-p/54242.htm">http://www.aquatraders.com/Aquarium-Metal-Halide-MH-B-p/54242.htm</a>

T5 HO:
[IMG]http://www.aquatraders.com/20-inch-4x18W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52302.htm">http://www.aquatraders.com/20-inch-4x18W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52302.htm</a>



Hope everyone's well. Thanks!

 

[redstang]

If I were to do my lighting system over again I'd go either MH/T5 combo or MH/LED combo. That being said, I don't think I've seen a T5 only system in person.

Main concern with MH and a 10gal tank IMO a 150W MH would be too much heat. That's an awfully small volume and it could heat up quickly. Based on that alone, I'd be inclined to go T5 or LED. You could probably pick up a Kessil A150 for pretty cheap since the 160WE's just came out.

Buy quality over quantity. Buy once, cry once. Doesn't have to be expensive, but it does need a reputation for quality. And while you have to be careful, buying slightly used can save you a ton of $$$.

 

[tonymission]

Id go all T5 or T5/led for what you're trying to do. Led/MH is both spotlight style lighting and won't compliment each other as well. For SPS dominated tank Id go mh/t5...

That said, I've seen so many awesome t5 only tanks that my second frag tank is now an 8bulb t5 fixture. Better color than my MHs and the growth isn't too far behind.

Oops -- 10g?? Didn't see that.. I probably would be worried about heat with the MHs

 

[northgahillbilly]

18" T5s are pretty weak little buggers, if your not completely against the idea of a fixture overhanging the tank then I would go with a 24" 4 bulb T5 fixture. As far as MH goes, you would need to get a 150 watt so high over the tank itll spill into the ENTIRE apartment, but it can be done, I speak from experience. 70 watt MH are kind of like 18" T5s in that they severely limit your bulb options