Can't Decide on Lighting - Please Help

[Otty]

If you are good with your hands and know a little about electricity then go with a couple of these: 400 Watt Metal Halide Unassembled Ballast + Mogul Socket - Marine Depot - Marine and Reef Aquarium Super Store $109 a piece and you can hook them up to multiple voltages. If wired up to 240v you will save on your kw per hr from the power company. Just my $.02
DIY's are a lot cheaper

[GatorDrew]

eh... not for me.

I'm torn right now... I like the easiness of the Coralife and the fact that it would have everything built in. I don't like that it uses a magnetic ballast (according to Marine Depot customer support). I love my current setup because I have a nice transition... lunar to actnics to regular PC.

Here's the options

Separate: Buy two of the IceCap Spider Reflector with 250W 14k Hamilton Bulb and their electronic ballast. Estimated costs would be ~$750. The width is about 13" so I'll have roughly 6" of ceiling real estate. Find actinic lighting strip, etc that's about 3" wide to go on either side of the MH. Then space out actinic. Then space out the lunar lights. I have no idea how much actinics costs... lets say $200 for both lights.

Just MH & Lunar: Buy two of the IceCap Spider Reflector with 250W 14k Hamilton Bulb and their electronic ballast. Estimated costs would be ~$750. Downfall: no transition. Missing out on the actinics.

Coralife: $950. Has all the components. Not piece mealing it together. Magnetic ballast so monthly costs could be higher than above two. How much more? I don't know.

Right now... I'm with Jason... the Coralife seems to offer everything I'm really looking for. The only thing I'm scared about is the monthly costs. When I think about magnetic ballast... I think about this article.

[Otty]

Just trying to save you a buck.
My 3-400w MH $327
3 South Pacific Sunlight bulbs 400w 14k $308
4-95w 36" VHO Actinics $84
VHO Ballast $170 est
Elbow grease= free

$789.00 total
See how much money DIY can save you.

[GatorDrew]

I really appreciate it... but I really don't think I'd be able to do all that. I'm just making a jump into DIY territory with a sump/fuge. I'm comfortable with that since there's not much too it... no electrical work, etc.

Alright... so if I get the IceCap Spider Reflector with 250W 14k Hamilton Bulb and their electronic ballast. Estimated costs would be ~$750

Then what? The pricing is so scattered after that for VHO retro:

Sunlight - $119

PFO - $134

Coralife - $199

IceCap - $217 (Includes bulbs)

I like IceCap and think you get what you pay for. I want to hope that IceCap VHO Set is an electronic ballast... since that's what they all normally are (from IceCap at least).

They recommend one actinic white and one blue. In this scenario, I would get two blues... right?

[Otty]

Originally Posted by GatorDrew

I really appreciate it... but I really don't think I'd be able to do all that. I'm just making a jump into DIY territory with a sump/fuge. I'm comfortable with that since there's not much too it... no electrical work, etc.

Alright... so if I get the IceCap Spider Reflector with 250W 14k Hamilton Bulb and their electronic ballast. Estimated costs would be ~$750

Then what? The pricing is so scattered after that for VHO retro:

Sunlight - $119

PFO - $134

Coralife - $199

IceCap - $217 (Includes bulbs)

I like IceCap and think you get what you pay for. I want to hope that IceCap VHO Set is an electronic ballast... since that's what they all normally are (from IceCap at least).

They recommend one actinic white and one blue. In this scenario, I would get two blues... right?

As far as Actinics I would go with the URI Super Actinic VHO's because they have 180 degree internal reflectors built into the light so you can just mount them with a Coralife clip. They are the 420nm light spectrum. They really look nice... Get the blue ones...
URI Fluorescent Light Bulbs - Marine Depot - Marine and Reef Aquarium Super Store

[GatorDrew]

Alright... after serious thinking I think I'm just going to make a "middle" step and go with 4 VHOs. That would run me much cheaper and would make my tank look considerably nicer.

IceCap VHO: $314

2x URI 48 Inch VHO Actinic White Bulb (110 Watts): $48

2x URI 48 Inch VHO Super Actinic Bulb (110 Watts): $42

TOTAL COST: $404

Currently have:
Coralife 48 Inch Aqualight With 2-65W Actinic / 2-65W 10,000K Lamp Straight Pin Base (with fans)

I'm esentially doubling my "wattage." I know that's a poor "rating", but that's pretty damn good, eh? Definitely an upgrade?