need your advice please

[htfn]

Hi, I am thinking to change my lighting system to 8 x 54w T5 or 6 x 54w T5. Now I have 2 x 175w MH and 4 x 96w tube lights. My tank is 90G mixed reef tank.

and also changing wave motion device to single Vortech MP40w Es or 2 x Hydor Koralia 4 Controllable Powerhead and Hydor Korlia Wavemaker Controller (2 Pump). I realy like MP 40w ES but if I need two of them then it quite expensive and I am not able to afford them. I also like Hydor Koralia, too and I guss price is right. single MP40w ES price is 2 powerhead plus wavemaker controller. Are they making wave like MP40? Could you please give some your valuable advise.

Thank you

[amoreira]

Keep the MH lights, and swap the others with T5HO.

I find that SPS doesn't do well with just T5's (others might weigh in differently, but that's my finding).

As for wave motion, I have MP40W and find it's great for my needs. Hydor's are kind of bulky and the prop breaks easiliy. They don't have anything near of the output that the MP40 does. If you got the bucks go for MP40.

[globaldesigns]

Keep the MH lights, and swap the others with T5HO.

I find that SPS doesn't do well with just T5's (others might weigh in differently, but that's my finding).

As for wave motion, I have MP40W and find it's great for my needs. Hydor's are kind of bulky and the prop breaks easiliy. They don't have anything near of the output that the MP40 does. If you got the bucks go for MP40.

+1, MH are much better, especially for SPS

I also run 2 MP40W's and love them, also running dual Koralia #4 wavemakers, they are good and add, but not like the Vortech's

[htfn]

the reason why Iam trying to get rid of MH is a heat issue. I know that we are loosing summer any time soon but during a hot summer day, my water temp goes up 80 - 82. I dont have a chiller to keep my temp down, so I thought T-5 might works and I am not sure about this but may be I can save a little bit maintenance fee and hydro bill.

Yeah, Vorthch is nice and way to go. I really like to put in my tank but I just cant afford 2 MP40s (main one and slave one). If single MP40 works good enough then I will go for it.
Thanks for your reply

[Millepora_Maniac]

I'm a huge MH fan, but I have to say that T5's are awesome. Recently, a friend of mine (Canuckgod420) changed his 250 w halides out for an eight bulb t5 fixture. His fixture isn't the highest quality available, but it grew his SPS way better than his halides did. He was running expensive shades with top end bulbs too. If I had the choice, I would go with the T5's. The growth is fast, colours are more vibrant and you have way more control over the colour of bulb that you want to run.
Don't worry about your SPS, they will grow better and faster than ever:biggrin:. Good Luck!!

[reefwars]

theres ways around your heat issues an air conditioner may be cheaper than a light so would fans and you can raise your light or add a chiller all of which would be cheaper than another light, and to be honest alot of peoples tanks hit the low 80's on a hot day its not that bad, now if you were changing it for your corals we may be having a diff discussion although i to run halides and love the growth i get:)

[mark]

not that 82 is that high but muffin fan blowing on the sump on it's own thermostat or even just coming on at the same time as the MH can help keep the temp down.

[gobytron]

not that 82 is that high but muffin fan blowing on the sump on it's own thermostat or even just coming on at the same time as the MH can help keep the temp down.

YEAH.

Sounds like you only need to keep the temp down a couple of degrees and a fan, well placed over your sump or over your display will easily accomplish this.

[mark]

but if you're using the temperature excuse to the wife to justify a set of shiny new lights, it's the T5s or a thousand dollar chiller

[chris88]

T5's don't grow sps corals lol. Yeah right tell that to the 100,000 amazing sps reefs grown by T5's. T5's will cover way more coral tissue so will not get the dead spots on the underneath of corals. You can control the spectrum much easier, with less heat issues and the ability to go dusk / dawn. The right 8 bulb t5 fixture would absolutly grow sps faster with better growth then 2 175w or even 2 250w hallides. The only thing halides have over T5 is shimmer, which you can get from adding a couple leds. MH are great but they just dont compare to the new t5 fixtures and bulbs coming out. Why in the world would you want to run a chiller on a reef tank. its just one more thing to worry about that might crash and it wastes energy and space.

[ALang]

My two cents: Light fixtures are expensive. What you've got is great. Use the extra $$ for the vortexes instead.
I spent the money on a whole house A/C and kept the WHOLE family comfortable and heat in the tank down. All I have is a small fan set along with my MH timer to keep my temp down to around 79F.
But prior to installing the A/C, the temps did got up to around 80 to 82, just like yours. Ran like that for years, and no problems as far as I could tell.

[htfn]

Thanks for your all respond
for my heat issue, I am using 4 fans over the main tank. During a hot temp day, my acro lost tisseu badly and they were barely made it. and the other day, I found aqua medic T-5 fixture and I never try only T-5 lighting system. Now I am borrowing current
lighting system from my friend, so I have to get light fixture in the future anyway. so if choose T-5 what is a heat issue? If it is not improve then I can keep my friend's one or use my 250w MH back to the tank.
Thanks again

[reefwars]

T5's don't grow sps corals lol. Yeah right tell that to the 100,000 amazing sps reefs grown by T5's. T5's will cover way more coral tissue so will not get the dead spots on the underneath of corals. You can control the spectrum much easier, with less heat issues and the ability to go dusk / dawn. The right 8 bulb t5 fixture would absolutly grow sps faster with better growth then 2 175w or even 2 250w hallides. The only thing halides have over T5 is shimmer, which you can get from adding a couple leds. MH are great but they just dont compare to the new t5 fixtures and bulbs coming out. Why in the world would you want to run a chiller on a reef tank. its just one more thing to worry about that might crash and it wastes energy and space.



and all this is for under a $100 not bad where can i get one???:)

[daniella3d]

Some of the best sps I have seen around here are owned by a man who run a coral store and all he uses are T5HO.

His display tank has the best colors sps can get.

Maybe your sps has other issues than just your light?

BTW, I use a 250 watt MH on my 75 aquarium and with just 4 little fans the temperature rarely go higher than 78F. Most of the time it stay at 76.5 set by my controller. Of course we run AC in the house and it's not for the aquarium, it's for our own comfort. I cannot stand the heat.

Keep the MH lights, and swap the others with T5HO.

I find that SPS doesn't do well with just T5's (others might weigh in differently, but that's my finding).

As for wave motion, I have MP40W and find it's great for my needs. Hydor's are kind of bulky and the prop breaks easiliy. They don't have anything near of the output that the MP40 does. If you got the bucks go for MP40.