Lighting upgrade considerations.

thanks for all the info. I did alot of research on mh vs t5 and my understanding is.

mh will give a better shimmer effect in the water and can usually penetrate deeper. my house is always at about 73 degrees in virginia with ac so for the most part heating should not be an issue.

t-5s are a bit more affordable and provide more even light. They run cooler but that is not a major concern for me.

my tank is in my den and where i spend alot of time watching movies and having guest over. I think whatever i get it needs to look descent and not make the room look tacky or rediculously bright.

with whatever i get it needs to be in a hood form and i dont like the look of a canopy really. do i have to take the glass top off of my 72g bowfront? right now i have it on with my current 260w pc light fixture. will i have to hang the fixture from my ceiling? I prefer it be on tall legs if possible.

It would help if i could get answers from someone who has their tank in their main family room.

 

Wow. You and I have some things in common. I don't like the look of a canopy either. I love my open topped tank. I can't own jumpers, but such is life. That's a decision I've made, so I can live with it. I too appreciate a low profile fixture, and don't want light in the room that's not coming from inside the tank!

I've had both T5s and Halides. In fact, I still own my top of the line Aquactinics 5 bulb T5 fixture. It's a great fixture for a shallower tank like a 55, but I wouldn't run it on my 90. My 55 G was better suited for T5s for the reasons you outline in your post above. When I got my 90, I jumped on this halide unit because it's a $700 fixture, and I bought mine from a friend who needed the money--and got it for $375.

Having owned both, I'd heartily recommend the halides. They're forward compatible, which you can't say about the T5s. I can't put my T5's on just any 48" tank. It worked on the 55G because it's a relatively shallow tank at 21".

Here are some pics of the Coralife Aqualight Pro fixture on my 90. It's the fixture I linked to a few posts up in this thread. Someone's starting it for $350, and there are no bidders with 1 day, 16 hours left. I'd jump on it if I didn't own it already.

To address your concerns above, it doesn't light up the whole room, and I don't run a chiller, as it adds no heat to my tank, sitting about 8" above the water on the legs provided with the fixture. It's very sturdy and well-made. Finally, for its size, it's a pretty low-profile fixture. In my opinion it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. The fan is pretty quiet too.

Whatever you decide, it sounds like you're doing it by educating yourself first. That's GREAT!!

Here's mine:

 

We all have opinions don't we...
I am not saying that is a good thing that they are made in china... All I said was you want to know why they are cheap.... MADE IN CHINA, thats why they are so cheap.

Your right they don't have individual reflectors, neither do Coralife or Current. But they do at least have a dual or two bulb reflector unlike the other two. And they also have a protective lens that many lights lack. As far as the ballasts go my 36" light has 2 workhorse ballast's in it which is a pretty good ballast as far as I know.

I have had great success and growth with the stock bulbs, I just question their longevity, that is why I said I am replacing them with the UVL bulbs with the built in reflectors that tangster is recommending in the next month or so. But at least they come with bulbs and you don't have to imediatly lay out a bunch of money on bulbs as you do with tek lights.

As far as the metal halides from Aquatraders goes I wouldn't buy one either knowing thier track record. I have no issues with the T5's I have nor do several others that I know who have bought them. The only probllem I see with these lights is the fact that they only have one cord but with a few dollars and a little bit of my time I can fix that problem.

And the biggest reason I recommended them is the cost, when your on a budget and evidently this person is then they are a decent light to start with because they sure are not going to get a Tek light for anywhere near 400 bucks. And as I said I feel that Tek light are way overpriced for what you get but we all have opinions....

 

I see where you are coming from but a 4 bulb Tek T5 WITH the bulbs and shipping is $330 from reefgeek.com. A 6 bulb is about 400-420 I think. Like I said though he just needs to PM Tangster.

There are also the quality fixtures that may be slightly used that someone else mentioned. He needs to look around. There is no reason to cheap out right at the beginning. And this is coming from a very budget conscious person.

 

Yes, you are right 330 plus shipping..... but no bulbs, right.. So now you have to add at least 100 bucks to that for bulbs...

And used fixtures bother me because you never know what your going to get. I bought one a while back. plugged it in and reached over to turn it on and got knocked on my kiester and at 280 lbs that kind of hard to do. come to find out someone had done some modifications inside and used SCOTCH tape to finish off the wires.

I just sugested them becasue I have had good luck with them that all, everyone has to make thier own decisions.

 

I tried to help, my fixture in 3 months old. The only mod i did to it was put the tank mounting legs on it. I dont mod my equipment especially if had to do with electricity, so that wouldnt be a worry for who ever bought it. Anyway i snapped sum pix for the hell of it.











Took it off my tank sunday nite, trying to avoid ebay and give someone a deal here on 3reef. I even have the org. box and packaging for bulbs and fixture.

 

Umm, no..I said $330 everything included. Fixture, bulbs, and shipping. $330. That's it. He may have to pay for the legs if he want them, but everything else is $330.

 

That's for a 36 inch fixture, he's looking for a 48 inch one.

 

if you already have 260 watts of pc maybe a clip on m.h. would fit on ther also? i wouldn't chuck the setup you've got unless i had to. i'd add on. i would however take the actinics out of the pc and run all 10k or 14k if you can get'em. i also have to say that only metal halide is real!

 

It's for the 48" ficture. Here:

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/Sunlight_Supply/Tek_Light_Fixtures/48_inch__4x54W_Tek_Light_T5_High-Output_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_(Black)_by_Sunlight_Supply

There are a lot to look at, some with bulbs, some without, I can see how the numbers would run together.