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FishyFishy!
09-29-2011, 03:07 PM
I'm debating wether the 72" Aquatinics Constellation fixture will be enough for my new 155 Bowfront Dedicated SPS tank. It has 14X39W T5's. I had this running on my 187 Gallon tank, and it was a fantastic fixture, but I only had mostly softies.

My main concern is cost. The Aquatinics fixture is cheaper...

It's between the Aquatinics and 2 X 36" Oddysea fixtures with 2X250W halide and 4X39W T5 fixtures - so total of 4X250W halides and 8X39W T5's

Whuddya Think??

Myka
09-29-2011, 03:10 PM
How deep is your tank? I believe it is 30" deep? T5s are really only good for 24", and even then I would pick halides over T5s any day for SPS.

FishyFishy!
09-29-2011, 03:13 PM
The biggest point at the bow is 24". The sides are 19"

kien
09-29-2011, 03:21 PM
Halides if you never want to wonder if you've got enough light for something pretty that you find at the fish store :-D. Plus, halide shimmer FTW! That is unless you install some pesky LEDs to supplement an add shimmer, but who wants to do that?? :lol:

The t5s should work too. Although there will be much more light reaching the bottom of the tank with the halides vs the t5s as the halides have a deeper penetration. This may or may not be an issue for you though depending on what you would want to keep lower down.

FishyFishy!
09-29-2011, 03:37 PM
Halides if you never want to wonder if you've got enough light for something pretty that you find at the fish store :-D. Plus, halide shimmer FTW! That is unless you install some pesky LEDs to supplement an add shimmer, but who wants to do that?? :lol:

The t5s should work too. Although there will be much more light reaching the bottom of the tank with the halides vs the t5s as the halides have a deeper penetration. This may or may not be an issue for you though depending on what you would want to keep lower down.


Well said kind sir!

cyberdude47
09-30-2011, 03:31 AM
I have a 72" constellation on my 500g 36" deep tank (its for sale BTW) and it worked great on my system, I had a mixed reef with a great collection of SPS, softies, and clams & chalices on the sandbed and had better growth rates than when I had 4-400w lighting it. I think it worked great

Trigger Man
10-03-2011, 04:43 PM
I have always been a big fan of t5's, and I ran them on my last tank with a depth of 24 inches and a full sps tank with many of the so called difficult sps doing just fine. Of course the lower heat coming from t5's was also a bonus.