Considering switching to MH

[lorenz0]

So for the past 5 months i have been debating about switching over to MH from T5's and seeing the difference my lighting would make in my tank. Right now my colors are good out of my sps but they seem to be gaining color with the new bulb config, but i am just not happy.

Now it is a Tek 6 bulb right now at 16" tall. And i will be looking into 2x250 MH and probably the lumenmax 3's so i can run a retro T5 supplimentals down the road.

My biggest worry is heat, now alot of t5 guys have said that the "heat factor" is similar but only by a few degree's. I went last summer with the tank on the mid level of the house and we had a few days where it got to 30+ degree's in the house (no AC) so what can i expect with MH. I am new to this lighting .

So my 2 choices are:

1 - switch to the MH

2 - stick with t5's are save up for a better fixture (constellation or sun power)

any words of advice would be greatly appreciated

[naesco]

So for the past 5 months i have been debating about switching over to MH from T5's and seeing the difference my lighting would make in my tank. Right now my colors are good out of my sps but they seem to be gaining color with the new bulb config, but i am just not happy.

Now it is a Tek 6 bulb right now at 16" tall. And i will be looking into 2x250 MH and probably the lumenmax 3's so i can run a retro T5 supplimentals down the road.

My biggest worry is heat, now alot of t5 guys have said that the "heat factor" is similar but only by a few degree's. I went last summer with the tank on the mid level of the house and we had a few days where it got to 30+ degree's in the house (no AC) so what can i expect with MH. I am new to this lighting .

So my 2 choices are:

1 - switch to the MH

2 - stick with t5's are save up for a better fixture (constellation or sun power)

any words of advice would be greatly appreciated

I think in have a 3rd choice and that is LED. You will not have a heat problem and have to invest in cooling. It appears you are in no rush. Study the LED options.

[Zoaelite]

NO.... Stay with your t5's all the way, just get a 12 bulb fixture :wink:.
Levi

[the marine apprentice]

the led is a sweet new deal but i like the t5 setups. even though i do run a mh on my tank, ill be switching back to t5s when i move into the new place and set up a new tank

[lorenz0]

I think in have a 3rd choice and that is LED. You will not have a heat problem and have to invest in cooling. It appears you are in no rush. Study the LED options.

i have considered it, but still undereducated about them. only seem some nice LED lit tanks

NO.... Stay with your t5's all the way, just get a 12 bulb fixture :wink:.
Levi

Well if i stick to T5's i am stuck with only a few options due to my euro bracing:

ATI Sun power 6 bulb 13.5" wide (my #1 choice right now due to price)
constellation 7 bulb 14" wide
power module 8 bulb 17.5" wide (this fixture is pushing it and a bit pricey for me)

But I really want to try the MH lighting. My tank has been running on T5's for the past year. I honestly want to see if i can get any improvements in color and growth

[freezetyle]

My biggest worry is heat, now alot of t5 guys have said that the "heat factor" is similar but only by a few degree's. I went last summer with the tank on the mid level of the house and we had a few days where it got to 30+ degree's in the house (no AC) so what can i expect with MH. I am new to this lighting .




I have a MH light over my tank. similar situation as you with the house heat issues. basically you can position a fan to blow across the surface water and lighting fixture. there will be increased evaporation but your tank temp. but should remain manageable

[Kevotron]

Im im the midst of starting a 40G Breeder
and im debating whether to do T5 or LED as well
i checked the Maxspect g2-160W LED system and it looks great and price is great too..
only skeptical part is that is Made in China...
heres the link...
http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_programmable_led_aquarium_lighting?catego ry_id=118

[kien]

There are lots of great T5 tanks out there. Doug and Johns tank just to name a couple. They seem to be doing very well with T5s so I dunno. I'm actually going to try T5s over my shallow 104.72g tank because I'm a little curious too. I have never run T5s exclusivly before. My main 150 tank is a combo fixture 3x250 halides with T5s supplementing. I don't have any complaints about it. It is fairly high over my tank so no huge heat issues. I do love the halide shimmer though and would totally miss that. That alone is probably the only thing keeping halides over my tank :-)

[lorenz0]

Its up in the air. I am getting a qoute on a set up today so it all matters on how much it will cost. So far Changing the skimmer showed huge improvement in my tank, and i really want to stay out of KZ products.

[banditpowdercoat]

I started with T5's and although I still like the color choices you get, and cooler temps. I don't think I could give up my MH's now. They add a shimmer, make the tank seem more alive it seems. WHat I want to do is Add T5's, or some blue LED's to the MH's.

[doch]

I had MH on my last tank, and ended up cooking it when I was out of town during a hot spell. Came back and all my corals were melted, and most fish and inverts were dead. I'm sticking with T5's... to be safe. From people that I've talked to, and setups that I've seen, you can grow pretty much anything under the right t5 set up anyways, so why pay the extra power and worry about the extra heat???

[blueyota]

I have MH on my tank and love it I did try t5 but cant get the bright color with just t5 imo i do have t5 supplement with my MH to give more color pop
but like stated in previous posts the shimmer alone is worth it

[lorenz0]

thanks for the input guys. my biggest concern is heat in the summer as a chiller is a bit out of the budget. could running fans across the surface reduce heat from the lamps enought that i won't have to be worried about cooking my tank?

[ponokareefer]

I have MH over my 125 gallon, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd get a nice T5 fixture instead. The multitude of light combinations, and the lack of heat issues are 2 major items that swing my vote for T5's. I know the shimmer is "nice", but I have seen too many amazing T5 setups that I wouldn't think twice about it if I had to do it all over again. You can get a nice effect by placing a powerhead close to the surface creating waves and ripples in the water giving you a nice effect, even with T5's. I do this even with my MH's.

[ponokareefer]

thanks for the input guys. my biggest concern is heat in the summer as a chiller is a bit out of the budget. could running fans across the surface reduce heat from the lamps enought that i won't have to be worried about cooking my tank?

Fans will help, but with 2 250 MH's, you'll need some good fans, and you'll likely hear them, and then you will also have a fair amount of evaporation, so will likely need an ATO to maintain good balance. I just went to an ATO this summer because of this.
So, you'd have the expense of the MH fixture, plus a chiller, or fans and an ATO. You could get a pretty nice 8 bulb T5 for that.

[banditpowdercoat]

I just have a clip on desk fan on top of tank, that comes on when lights on, and off an hr after lights out. Keeps my tank pretty stable, maybe up to 82 MAX in summer. I'm also in a mobile home, so it gets pretty warm in there at times.

PS, I got 3 250W 2 DE and one SE

[doch]

Should I ever go MH again (which I may very well do on the next tank) I will definetly have a chiller... I don't want to risk another catastrophic crash.

[kien]

thanks for the input guys. my biggest concern is heat in the summer as a chiller is a bit out of the budget. could running fans across the surface reduce heat from the lamps enought that i won't have to be worried about cooking my tank?

A fan will definitely help. I used to use a cheap $10 floor fan from Canadian tire and that kept my temp from going above 81. It was noisy as hell though. Ended up getting a sleek 4 fan unit that is pretty quiet. It plugs intou controller so it actually isn't on all the time. Controllers for the win here! When temp drops below 78 heater kicks in fan is off. When temp hits 81 fan kicks in. When temp is in a comfortable range neither fan nor heaters are on, so the temp in my tank never drops below 78 and never rises above 81 ever. I have 3 250watt halides :-)

[sphelps]

I'd look into a combination of 1 & 2. Save up and get yourself a nice MH&T5 combo fixture and you'll get the best of both worlds. The good fixtures are made from aluminum and don't use fans which is nice because they control heat nicely and do not make any noise. You can also hang the fixture a little higher than T5 alone fixtures which will also help with heat. As a last resort you can always add a fan to blow air over the water and under the fixture which in my experience works really well on those hot days. My tank is easily kept below 80 in the summer with too small computer fans.

I'd stay clear from LEDs, although the technology is pretty cool you won't be happy with them. The intensity is too low and the color spectrum is too narrow, you will not get great coral color from such a light fixture. Well at least I've never seen a tank lit by LED show decent color in corals.

[JDigital]

Laurier, I don't think you would have any heat issues to worry about if you had a fan on your cabinet next to the tank blowing underneath the lights. If anything we could probably use a fan up there in the summer anyways. :lol:

[kien]

just be prepared for the evap! It will be huge :-)

[banditpowdercoat]

Laurier, I don't think you would have any heat issues to worry about if you had a fan on your cabinet next to the tank blowing underneath the lights. If anything we could probably use a fan up there in the summer anyways. :lol:

That's what I do and all is good. About 1-1.5g/d evap I'd guess. I had 2 tanks running off 1 ATO reservoir so can't be 100%

[JDigital]

He's running a Tunze ATO, evap should be easily controlled...

[kien]

This will also cause humidity in the house to sky rocket. Be prepared for that too.

[banditpowdercoat]

This will also cause humidity in the house to sky rocket. Be prepared for that too.

Oh sure NOW ya tell me LOL:razz:

[kien]

Oh sure NOW ya tell me LOL:razz:

Trust me, i feel your pain! My wife and hardwood floors love the humidity, but my windows do not. I haven't yet invested in a dehumidifier (although I should).. but what I find helps is leaving the furnace fan on 24/7. It helps to circulate the humid air through out instead of it being concentrated no the main floor in the living room. In the summer the humidity is no big deal but in the winter it is brutal.

[banditpowdercoat]

Trust me, i feel your pain! My wife and hardwood floors love the humidity, but my windows do not. I haven't yet invested in a dehumidifier (although I should).. but what I find helps is leaving the furnace fan on 24/7. It helps to circulate the humid air through out instead of it being concentrated no the main floor in the living room. In the summer the humidity is no big deal but in the winter it is brutal.

Are you serious the hardwood loves the humidity? Ya I guess, won't dry out and crack. Wonder if its the same for laminate??? My luck, No :(

[Triggz]

Do you guys pay for hydro where your at? If your rent is inclusive, you could find a cheap window A/C on kijiji for like $50. We had to get one for our bulldog just for the few days in the summer that hit 30 degrees. I will also be putting my S.P.S. tank with halide lighting in this room.

[wayner]

I'd look into a combination of 1 & 2. Save up and get yourself a nice MH&T5 combo fixture and you'll get the best of both worlds. The good fixtures are made from aluminum and don't use fans which is nice because they control heat nicely and do not make any noise. You can also hang the fixture a little higher than T5 alone fixtures which will also help with heat. As a last resort you can always add a fan to blow air over the water and under the fixture which in my experience works really well on those hot days. My tank is easily kept below 80 in the summer with too small computer fans.



I agree!

[kien]

Are you serious the hardwood loves the humidity? Ya I guess, won't dry out and crack. Wonder if its the same for laminate??? My luck, No :(

It gets really dry here in Calgary. Last year during the dry winter we noticed a lot of the hardwood planks really contracted and there were a lot of gaps between the planks. I guess this is normal for hardwood in the winter. We have the individual prefinished planks, as opposed to the raw planks that you seal and finish all at once later (after install). Anyway, the gaps tend to collect dirt and dust if you don't clean them up. This year the hardwood is nice and tight, no gaps from contraction :-)

[TheMikey]

My apologies if I missed this, but what are the dimensions to your tank and what color combo are you running with your bulbs?

Quite honestly, a TEK 6-Bulb fixture should be more than enough light to your tank, especially with anything within the first 16" of the top of your water. If you're concerned about colour, you may have to do some dosing. There's a great thread in the Reef Chemistry forum on RC that tells you what do dose to boost specific colours...

I just can't find it right now >: (

[lorenz0]

I'll take a look. In terms of color, i am getting decent color right now. (lol if you saw my tank you would know how picky i am) My blues are nicely blue, reds are doing decent. As for bulbs I am switching them up tomorrow to try something out. This is my current combo, front - back:

AS 22,000k
GE actinc+
AS Duo
KZ Reef Blue (the new 22,000k bulb from KZ)
AS Duo
AS 22,000k

Tomorrow it will be:

Current USA pure actinic
AS Duo
KZ new gen
AS 22,000k
KZ New gen
AS 22,000k

or something on those lines. I have never ran a pure actinic and am wondering if this is what will make me happy with my "fake color" but i am also adding in the new gens to see how growth is.

My biggest issue with growth was under skimming/no skimming. My old skimmer was good but it needed to be cleaned every week. At the beginning of Decemeber i replaced it with a euro-reef rs-80 and it has been nothing but acceptional and growth has increased. I'm going to try this lower kelvin set up one more time to see the difference in growth and than i will decide what i want to do. I do think the skimming issue was my issue with growth judging on the increase in the past 2 months. But the last time i dropped my kelvin (just in general) i lost color.

Maybe i will give it one more go with T5's and the Tek fixture. But come summer i do plan on replacing my lighting

[lorenz0]

Well i have come to the conclusion that I am WAY to picky when it comes to the colors of my corals. Basically i think i may have to start looking into dosing soon