Going to buy new lighting.....need advise.

never saw what you were keeping in the tank.

 

I keep assorted softies and LPS right now. It's in my signature. I don't really have that much interest in SPS. I am just not that impressed with them. I do like clams though, so I want a lot of lumens and PAR (did I get that right?).

I have pretty much made up my mind on the subject. I am going through Tangster and am getting the T5 Tek 8x54W with the protective gear and stand. Roger is picking out the lights for me. I just want it a little on the blue side. Let's see if I can find what he suggested......

OK, he said something about the whites being more whiteblue VHO between 16 and 18K. So I will run four of those and four superactinics. I have a vague idea what that means. Right now, I run 10 and 12K for my whites in PCs. It is not near blue enough for my taste. We'll see. I trust him, so it should rock hard when I get them in. I am very psyched. I will have to go out and get a very cool clam. If, that is, my tank is mature enough and the params are right. I will read up on it.

 

Congrats John! You are just going to go nuts with the new world of possibilites you just opened up, aren't you?

 

ok as some one that ran halides on a big tank a t5s on a small tank.
let me give you my opinion
halides provide a great shimmering effect, they can penetrate deeper then t5s, and are a must for large tanks, they do put out more heat then t5's.


t5 are slightly more efficent at converting energy to light, the main benefit of t5's is they lose very little intensity over the lifespan of the bulb and halide loses a good bit. t5's do create a small amount of shimmer but not near the amount of halides.


watts are watts if you get 200 watts of halide and 200 watts of t5 both use the same amount of energy and cost you the same on your power bill.
my advice if you want the best look and don't care about bulb replacement cost, do a combo of t5 and halide

if you have a large tank above 100 gallons you need too use halides
if you have a small tank it would prolly be better for you to get t5's.

 

Yeah.....I am on the edge. My tank is 24 inches deep. With 1&1/2 inches of sand and 1&1/2 inches from the water to the top of the tank, that leaves about 21 inches to the bottom. Pretty much the range of T5s from my understanding. I am concerned with the heat. I have an issue with heat. I am not as concerned with the shimmer effect as I am with the color of light I can get with the T5s. So, weighing it all out, the T5s won. Pretty much hands down. It is going to be sweet. I cannot wait.

 

sostoudt

agree with you they make some nice setups at vary good prices

 

We are demoing a new fixture this month over one of our display tanks, they are not over priced and I can tell ya where to get them in your area if they pan out.

 

Do tell! What lights are you demo-ing? You got my curiousity.;D Luna

 

we are tring the aquaticlife 48" HID we saw them at the backershow and they sparked a intrest with the all in one MH, t5, lunar and timer set up. Also want to check out the new HID lamps they are basicly HQI. They should be here by the end of the week.

Also testing LED's over an acro tank, basicly a display setup so ppl will think about spending the huge amount of cash on them.

 

the aqualife light set will be here on the 23rd I'll get some shots of em off to ya when they get in.