135g MH or T5?

Ok so I need to build a new hood with new lighting for the family's 135 that we are converting to a reef tank. The tank is 24" deep. We are hoping to eventually be able to keep clams, so are MH's a must for those or will T5's do it?

I'm actually partial to MH myself but I've seen a 24" coral tank with T5 that successfully kept acroporas (granted they didn't have a clam hence the post)

So what do you guys think? I'd rather hear from people with experience with them instead of trusting the manufacturer.

Also if anybody out there has the 72" oddyssea MH fixture, I know with the legs it is 72", but how long is it without the legs? (The 135 is a euro top so the legs wouldn't work, even if we didn't do a canopy.)

Thanks all!

 

Lumen Bright 3 Metal Halide Reflector (Small) - LB9502

 

lol got you hooked on those Lumen Brights!

 

I always understood that calms and stonies NEED MH. I never heard of someone using t-5 to grow calms/stonies, but than again, I dont have any exp. with t-5's. If I may put my 2 cents, if it fits in your budget, I would definately get MH. You really cant go wrong with them as far as corals. However, having said this, there are some draw backs(if you want to call it that) to MH. Are they more expensive?......yes. Will you need to buy other pieces of equipment to off set the heat........maybe. Are the bulbs expensive to replace?.......could be, depends. Is your elec. bill coming a little higher?.........could be. Those where the cons, now for the pro;
Are you going to be able to have ANY coral that you want to buy?........YES.
Are you going to love the "shimmering" effect that MH give?.........YES
Are you going to love the way they look over your tank?............HELL YA
I do have an Odyssea lighting unit but its not 72", rather than a 48" and I love it. I dont know what a "euro top" means but if you cant put the unit on the tank, most units come with hanging hardware. There are two places that I know of that sell Odyssea lights, one being Aquatraders and a guy at Ebay. This is one of the lights he sells;
72" 1134W Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light w/ FREE Ship</IMG> Hope this helps, Luna.

 

I always understood that calms and stonies NEED MH. I never heard of someone using t-5 to grow calms/stonies, but than again, I dont have any exp. with t-5's. If I may put my 2 cents, if it fits in your budget, I would definately get MH. You really cant go wrong with them as far as corals. However, having said this, there are some draw backs(if you want to call it that) to MH. Are they more expensive?......yes. Will you need to buy other pieces of equipment to off set the heat........maybe. Are the bulbs expensive to replace?.......could be, depends. Is your elec. bill coming a little higher?.........could be. Those where the cons, now for the pro;
Are you going to be able to have ANY coral that you want to buy?........YES.
Are you going to love the "shimmering" effect that MH give?.........YES
Are you going to love the way they look over your tank?............HELL YA
I do have an Odyssea lighting unit but its not 72", rather than a 48" and I love it. I dont know what a "euro top" means but if you cant put the unit on the tank, most units come with hanging hardware. There are two places that I know of that sell Odyssea lights, one being Aquatraders and a guy at Ebay. This is one of the lights he sells;
72" 1134W Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Light w/ FREE Ship</IMG> Hope this helps, Luna.

 

luna:
Tank of the Month - March 2005 - Reefkeeping.com
Translated version of http://www.marineaquarium.nl/maart-2006.php

 

Wow, thats a really beautiful tank, I guess I was wrong about T-5 lighting. Thanks for the thread reef-guru. I would sell my first born to have a system like that J/K

 

Actually I have seen some great sps tanks w/ clams that are T5. The main problem with them is said to be there ability to penitrate into deep tanks. I read a lot of posts on many forums about clams before I got mine, and most people have them under T5. I have my clam under VHO with a little mh supplementation and it is looking great. I have it on the sand bed. I have mh but have shortened the time they are on down from 8 hours to about 3 hours now. I plan on switching over to T5 totaly as I upgrade to 210g.

 

Good luck with that 210 system, keep us posted.

 

Lumens are awesome a bit pricey but there are alot of diy projects to make them for 20% of the cost My diys are awesome. I have t5s and mh over all my tanks.