t5 lighting suggestions?

I will be setting up a 75 gallon tank (48" long, 18" wide, 20" deep).

I want this to be a reef tank, with the capability to hold soft corals, LPS, and SPS. I have been debating between MH and t5 lighting, and I have decided to go with t5's. Does anyone have suggestions for a unit? I was thinking Nova Extreme Pro 6x54 watt 48" fixture.

Does anyone think I should go with something else, or is that a good choice?

Thanks

 

I like the tek lights, but im still gonna say you should have picked mh (this is where the good doctor frag tells me t5s r the best lol)

 

If I was starting out again or setting up a new tank, I would go with MH if not purely for the aesthetics of them. I have used T5s in all of my tanks with very good results from soft corals to sps, but I've started to become obsessed with my tank's aesthetics. I would use 2 250mh lights, or you could probably get away with 2 150w Mh. If you go T5, i would recommend the TEk fixture. A 6x54w fixture would be great. I used to have a Nova Extreme and it was ok, but the gull wing reflector didn't do much and it was louder as there was a fan. Even without the fan, the fixture run very cool, I was actually very surprised. Good luck.

 

I agree, go with the tech fixture. Nothing but rave reviews. MH does have a look that cannot be matched though.

 

I was deciding the same thing for my 65 gallon. I talked with Dr. Frag about different fixtures. I would rate them in this order, top pick if you have the money to blow is an ATI powermodule. For a little less there is the more economical ATI sunpower. (thats what I went with). You can check out ATI fixtures at www.reefgeek.com
Then you get into your base line fixtures with TEK (if you get TEK I suggest running a fan across it) and then the Nova Extreme Pro.
TEK has better individual reflectors than the individually bent reflectors that Nova uses. And the bulbs that come with the Nova are crap.

All good fixtures, just some are better designed and it depends on what you want to grow.

 

i have the 36" 4xd39 tek, and it is a good light. I don't have any corals in the tank but i plan to start with some softies then mainly get into lps and sps. I like the fact that i can grow anything with this light, and at the same time it doesn't create the heat like the mh light

 

The Tek is a little outside my price range right now, if I could find it on sale somewhere then I'd probably get it. Same for the ATI sunpower. For those advocation MH lights, my concern is that I would need to run a chiller with them during the summer, which I am not interested in doing. I live in Kentucky, and it can get hot and humid during the summer. I thought a t5 fixture with a fan or 2 for evaporative cooling would work better for me. For anybody that has used MH's, have you found a chiller to be necessary, or do a couple of fans work just fine?

 

i have a fan over my sump and my temps in the summer never reach over 80. Also check criagslist for a used unit, sometimes you can find a great deal

 

Ocean, Ocean, Ocean.... You KNOW I would show up SOMETIME!!

All kidding aside if you want to go T5 go with it!! Great lighting capabilities, with great color blending abilities and if you want shimmer of MH you can easily add shimmer from some of the LED strips companies sell such as the one buy Current.

There is main fundamental differences in T5 vs MH I'll try to spell out...

One is heat generated... Most of the things people worry about is heat and will I need to buy an energy hogging chiller???! T5 does put out less heat if only for the way its produced... Some is produced by the ballasts( more so on crappy ballasts) and some is produced along the length of the lamp... BUT imagine say 10 degrees over a 4' lamp, as silly as it sounds it is easier for the heat to be removed over that greater distance due to active cooling or strictly the rising of heat than 10 degrees over a 4" area that is directed at the tank....

As far as light coverage is concerned there is one major difference, what I will call point source as to linear source... Since MH the light is coming from either a 1.5" DE lamp or a 4" SE lamp its a very concentrated source or light.. When that light hits the water and the rippling of the current the light is refracted in the water, causing the glitter lines...
BUT when you look it from the persective of light, or better yet PAR(photosynthetic available radiation) coverage MH is more chaotic while T5 is more stable...
For example lets say you took a quatum meter and tested the length of the tank from side to side, half way down the tank. The MH tank might have levels of say 350, then an inch over it might be 260 then another inch over its 400... This is due to refraction, and light being bent and sent in other directions when it hits the flow of water....
In a T5 tank it would be safe to say in the same example you would see 350, 340 and say 360 or or whatever ficticious numbers you use... Case in point is you can safely assume that the T5 is going to be stable the length of the tank with a slight spike in dead center of the lamps.

OK.... Now onto fixtures....
ATI Power module, Sunpower, Constellation, Solar Flare, TX5, Tek, NEP and NE would be the best pretty much in that order....

From what I have heard from members that have purchased them and seeing new specs, the old Nova Extremes now have the same "SLRs" as the NEP does. I would still go with a NEP over the NE. I would go with a Tek over that as the SLRs are of better quality and you have a sleeker fixture, BUT Tek does not have active cooling, yet.... I was told that they should be out at MACNA or at least debut but I have heard nothing of the actived cooled version...
Aquactinc's is better than Tek for a few reasons, better SLRs, better aluminum, active cooling with SILENT fans and comes WITH splash shield and HANGING equipment, things you need to buy seperate with the Tek. The are obviously more $$ though...
The TX5 is a great fixture, the Solar Flare is an OD 6 lamp fixture and the Constellation is a 7 lamp unit.
That would bring us up to ATI, they use the same Aluminum as Aquactinics, but supposedly their SLRs are a touch better, I like Aquactinics as it DRIVES the PAR DOWN farther into the tank, I like penetration esp with deeper tanks...(get that thought out of your head!)
They have sleek units, active cooling, lots of lamps and good SLRs BUT they are pricey and foreign, if I were to recommend a fixture to someone I would say Aquactinics first, support the US baby!!

ANYWAY, long story short, get the best unit you can afford, get good lamps and on a 75 you can easily grow anything.... BUT remember, many faviaids and other LPS can get bleached out easily with T5 so start them low!!

Happy lighting!

 

Thanks for the breakdown Frag. If I was going to keep LPS and soft corals (lets skip the SPS for now), would that change the lighting recommendations in any way? Would I want the 4x54 watt setups instead of the 6 or 8 bulb ones? Or would t5 not be the way to go for them?