Lighting question

[freezetyle]

I currently have a 20" 150w Sunpod over my 45 gallon cube. I think that this light is a bit small for my tank seeing as its width is 24". Now i have been getting some good growth and some amazing color.

I have been thinking about going to a 24" tek light T5. to get more of an even spread on the tank instead of the hotspots i get with the single Halide and add some more actinic light. but i don't want to sacrifice too much of the great color im getting.

Looking for some input from some of you more experience reefers.

[StirCrazy]

do you got a pic of the tank with the light on over it?

Steve

[Navarchus]

Hi
I used to be a fanatic abut the use of MH bulbs in a reef tank, I loved the intensity, the shimmering effect, and the fact that it is the closest light source that resembles the sun.

In my last tank I decided to give T5 a try. I used aqua-since bulbs (some 15k, 17k and 22k). Although in the begging it took me some time to get used to the “sterile” appearance and the absence of the shimmering, the overall result was amazing!

The new lighting setup took out amazing colors out of my corals and even the fish. I could play with color of the aquarium and fit it exactly as I wanted it! I have also managed to save some bucks on my electricity bill since the chiller was all most out of work.

I think T5 today give knock out to MH……

[Aquattro]

I think T5 today give knock out to MH……

Nope, not even gonna go there :)

[fkshiu]

Do both t5 and mh and get the best of both worlds.

[freezetyle]

ill post some pictures up tomorrow to give you a better idea of what everything looks like.

More interested on which fixture would pump out more light.

[StirCrazy]

Do both t5 and mh and get the best of both worlds.

depends on what you mean by best of both worlds.. if you run both T5 and proper MH you are only using the T5's to suplement the visual apearance of the tank overall, realy they are not contrubiting any substantial PAR to the system. about the same idea as using PC or VHO as actinic lighting and using a 10K MH.

I do like the T5 for this purpose as there is a large selection of bulbs and they are comming down in price quickly. but the main reason I like them is the size, easy to tuck into a MH system.

As for should the OP trade his MH for T5's I would say no. even from a 150 watt MH this is a slight downgrade in lighting, and I figure if your going to spend money on lighting you should always upgrade. what I would recomend if he is not happy with his 150 MH is to buy a deicent HQI 250 watt with some sort of suplementation weather it be PC, VHO, or T5. But I don't want to say do this untill I see pics of his setup.

Steve

[freezetyle]

Stircrazy that was exactly the answer i was looking for!

thanks for all of the input. going to stick with the halides. seeing as i already have the fixture and have been getting good results.