not happy with lights

[martym]

I have a 1x250 DE MH coralife light over my 50g going to be sps tank. The light is good but not perfect(because of center brace). Would something like this be better?

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/1316/Tek--T-5-36%22-6-Bulb-Light/

Does T5 give the "shimmering" effect?
Thanks for your input.

[fishoholic]

Does T5 give the "shimmering" effect?
Thanks for your input.

No, only MH's have that shimmer effect.

[justinl]

Metal halides "shimmer" only because they are what is known as a single point light source. the arc is a relatively very small area from which light emanates, so when that light hits the surface of rippling water, the ripples are shown as light passes through and is diverted. light emanates from all points on a fluorescent bulb so even though the light is diverted as it hits the ripples, the shimmer effect disappears because the light is coming from a whole lot of different angles at a time.

have you considered keeping the halide and supplementing with T5? that should mask the dark area from the brace but still allow the halide to shimmer.

[martym]

T5's would be cheaper to run an cooler. But would there be a lighting difference. from the description on Ocean Aquatics, there would probably be more light from the t5's. Or would I be better off at trying a different bulb on the current setup. I have herd that Coralife bulbs aren't that good.

[ElGuappo]

i just got some aqua medic t5 bulbs and wow. i had 2 x24 x 2bulbs on a 25G deep tank, switched to a 45g long. only put 2 x 48 bulbs a 15k daytime and a fiji purple and its brighter than the 4 stock coralife bulbs i was using on my 25

[mseepman]

I would add something like this on top of your MH: http://oceanaquatics.com/store/product/2570/Sun-Blaze-T5-Strip-Light-48%22/

But 36" of course and I bet you would find yourself much happier with both lights together.

[martym]

Interesting... thanks for the input

[Drock169]

dual 150MH would be a better choice than a single 250

[martym]

Picked up the Tek 6x39w T5 last night. Nice system. Now have my other lights for sale :)

[Trigger Man]

Been running Tek 4x54w T5's for over 2 years and have always been happy with them. With the many different bulb combos that you can put together it makes it easy to select your perfect lighting. As well, with new bulbs like the fuji purples and the 50/50's the quality and choices just keep growing.