New light poll:

[zanski]

Okay im torn I know I want to go with a orbit fixture because I dont know anything about retro kit and dont really trust myself with one. Also, I want to keep my current canopy untill I go custom. I have a 75 gallon and only want to keep sps lps and a few clams. Is the extra mh power worth it?



#1...
48" 716w Current USA Outer Orbit Metal Halide T5 Strip

2x250w HQI 4x54w ACT (420/460nm) 18 LNR Aquarium Light
779.99 is the cheapest I found anyone know cheaper




#2.
48" 529w Current USA Outer Orbit Metal Halide T5 Strip

300w HQI 4x54w ACT (420/460nm) 18 Lunars Aquarium Light 668.99 is the cheapest I can find anyone find one cheaper??

 

[showtime305]

The 250w DE will give you better PAR levels at the bottom of that tank. If you can deal with the heat then go with the 250w HQI.

 

[wbholwell]

Do you have a chiller already?

 

[james s_]

I would scrap the MH completely and go with all T5's.IMO Why use MH and add all that heat to your tank when you dont need to.

 

[wbholwell]

I love my T5's!

 

[simon_kruger]

At 75 Gallons, 750+ watts would give you 10 watts per gallon. Its hard to grow LPS with such strong light. I know this from experience. My LPS only like being lower in the tank. SPS love it however. I voted for the lower light for a couple of reasons;
1) Heat - you will need a chiller as other have stated
2) Power consumption (it will be cheaper)
3) at 500 watts you are in the bracket that, IMO you can do anything (Softies, LPS, SPS). SPS dont grow much but they do survive. Speak with Todd Washowi he had the exact same setup and it worked for him.
4) If your tastes change and you want more light, i've modified these fixture a couple of times already and got 1000Watt out of them no problem. Todd Washowi and Andy Kortz can testify for this.

Also i must add, I would advise you to go higher in the kevlin spectrum say 20Ks. Your LPS will love it and it sort of looks cool too.

At the end of the day its all upto you. Will you ever go SPS in a big way?, do you have a chiller? Do you like bright light? Todd has some great picturs on the forum of before and after shots go find them and have a look.

 

[james s_]

Get a 48" 8 lamp Tek T5 fixture.Its 419.95 brand new or you could find a used one for 1/2 of that.That would be a little over 400 Watts and the bulbs would only need to be changed out every two years.Or better yet buy a Icecap Retro and have someone help you install it in your canopy.Im not far from you and I would help if you need it.

 

[tsciarini]

save yourself a few hundred dollars and go retro... you've already got a canopy and if you plan on keeping it, it's not worth wasting more cash.
Go retro and I'll wire it up for you (but you need to help me).

 

[simon_kruger]

What Tony and electricity. I dont think so.......

Just look at this photo. Guess who's doing the work and who's sitting on his xxxx. Well you know what I mean.

Honestly though retro might be the way to go.
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[daveatl]

-I wouldn't put one MH on a 48" tank, the spread of the light wouldn't be that great.

-I love T5's, but I would still get MH for a main display tank, the shimmer effect it creates really makes a difference in viewing.

If I were to pick a setup for your tank, I'd go with 2x150 hqi 15k bulbs with T5 supplements.

 

[showtime305]

daveatl;58655 wrote: -I wouldn't put one MH on a 48" tank, the spread of the light wouldn't be that great.

-I love T5's, but I would still get MH for a main display tank, the shimmer effect it creates really makes a difference in viewing.

If I were to pick a setup for your tank, I'd go with 2x150 hqi 15k bulbs with T5 supplements.

Both fixtures he's looking at are dual HQI not single.

 

[daveatl]

my bad, I'd go with option two then.

 

[sprayin70]

Buy a T-5 retrofit kit. My tank is all SPS and my lighting is all SPS! No chiller for me and a lower electric bill. LOL

 

[dannybradley]

Showtime305;58563 wrote: The 250w DE will give you better PAR levels at the bottom of that tank. If you can deal with the heat then go with the 250w HQI.

Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) is paramount when it comes to lighting. I'm waiting for all manufacturers to start stamping their products with this rating (hopefully honestly)

Watts is power draw, not light output. Lumens/Lux is a measure of brightness/perceived light, not useful light.

Outside of the Solaris system, and not even in all cases, has any aquarium lighting produced a higher PAR rating than metal halide lamps (I'm of course excluding the experimental i.e. microwave excited sodium arc with zero heat). The Solaris does it with really low heat waste and power draw.

Metal Halides are more intense lamps, meaning the penetrate and hold their spectrum better through the water column. They do put out some heat, but don't pretend 8 T5HOs can't cook a tank also, and who wants to have to buy 8 T5s every year?

Point of source lighting also has an often overlooked benefit. When you ripple water, it acts like a lens, causing intermitent bursts of light much brighter than a flourescent just dumping light across the span.

Retrofitting is easy, but is annoying when working on the tank, depending on the canopy style. If it's a clam shell, go ahead, if the hinge is on the back, you have the lights in your face when working on the tank. It also makes it much more difficult to remove the canopy.

 

[zanski]

OKay awesome input all. I was worried about the chiller part dont have one done want one lol. So it looks like t5's is going to be it then... anyone have a great retro kit to recommend sence I have some help now haha! But oh yeah ill be the one sitting on my *** haha j/k tony!