New 29g reef tank. I'm lost.

Right there. And I know that he is looking for some low budget lighting, but what I said wasn't really saying that they should get LEDs. I was just stating that LEDs are more efficient and so are halides. If you take all of the coral requirements and what you should have over a tank out of the equation LEDs are on top and halides are next. That is why companies use halide (or others like it) to light large buildings instead of t8 or t5. LEDs would cost way to much to light any kind of building like that.

 

Oh by the way check eBay there are some 4 bulb t5's on there that would be fine until you can save up and buy some really nice lighting or upgrade tanks or something.

I think like 80 for a 30 inch? Or 60 for a 24.

 

MH -less than T5's - less than LEDs....


meaning LEDS are at the top, followed by T5's followed by MH..

 

4X24=96 and 6 inches more penetrating power than a 250W MH is the same suggested coverage area. You also can have a much wider spectrum of light from the T5HO since you have 4 bulbs to combine. So it takes 2.5X as many watts of MH light to equal T5HO light.

The 3W LED have a penetrating power of up to 48" when put together properly. You need about half as many watts of the LED to get equal cover with T5HO.

 

thank you for explaining that to him, I was in a rush to get to work and didn't feel like spelling it out haha

and yup I agree with this, one thing we have to consider though what is he trying to do with the 29 gallon, are you trying to jump into sps or stick with softies for a while? If softies is the case I say stick with the lighng you already have and save up for some led's if you really can't save up the $260 then I'd suggest looking into t5's just be carefull and remember you get what you pay for in lighting

 

I use the 24" AquaticLife fixture on my planted tank (different bulbs of course) and absolutely love it, especially the built in digital timer for independent times of daylight, dawn/dusk, and moonlights.

I agree with everyone else saying that if you want to get into corals, raise your budget even if that means waiting until you have the money to get a better light.

You could also check on craigslist or ebay to try to find a good deal on a used light from someone who is upgrading. One thing to keep in mind is that when buying a used light, you need to calculate the cost of new bulbs, regardless of how old they "say" they are.

 

Great, thanks so much. And yea, it's a 30", could have sworn it said 40" in the store but that's good, it'll require a shorter unit.

Thanks so much for all the responses, I really appreciate it.

I guess I'll shop around and look for the HO T5's then. I think I have time because I've got the coral in a 10 gallon with a dual Actinic and a dual daylight (40 watts; not sure if that is each bulb (so 4 x 40) or each dual bulb (2 x 40)), but they seem to have a ton of light and I put a large water filter in there to get some current.

I had my water tested yesterday in my main tank and ammonia and nitrite were 0, but nitrate were 4, so I may be close to having it cycled. I just added a large piece of live rock and about 5 pieces of dry rock, so I'll probably move the coral back in 3 weeks or so.

 

I have a 4 bulb Odyssea T5 HO fixture and I have had nothing but good experience with it. It has 3 power cords for day, actinic, moonlights, its built solid, and it works flawlessly. And at 75 bucks brand new on ebay, I don't feel ripped off at all. It also has a reflector. The only thing you can say about it, is it comes with cheap bulbs, but for what this guy wants to do, the stock bulbs will work fine for a few months. I recommend this fixture to anyone looking to a good budget T5 fixture.

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Halides are not efficient. I hate halide lighting, heat = wasted energy, period. And I don't know if you noticed, but for the last 3-4 years they have switched from halides to T5s to light large buildings. In my trade I constantly work in new warehouses/manufacturing facilities and they all have replaced their halides with T5 fixtures. Halides are outdated technology.

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Hmm, I'm not really sure It seems like there are so many varieties of coral that I certainly don't want to limit myself if I see something I really like.