considering lighting upgrade

[petere1989]

Right now I have an aquaticlife 4 bulb T5 fixture over my 90 gallon. It does ok, i've seen some growth on my corals but not a ton. I have some money to spend and was considering upgrading my lights but do not know what to get, where to go, ect. also, my house is older and only hooked up to a 15amp circuit, already in a room where all electrical plugs are already over filled. So current will be an issue. any suggestions? I like led's but have heard negitive things about them, plus I want to get an anemone, and i've heard that they won't grow them. like i said, 90 gallon tank, and low amps would be wonderful!

 

[Allmost]

get a couple of LED strips, and place them on the back and in front of your T5 fixture.

you have alot of different options.

Mix of T5 and LED is my fav now ... and anemones need light to grow, anemones usually dont care what the source of the light was, as long as its right spectrum and intensity

 

[msderganc]

I'd agree. Although you can build a nice set of DIY LEDs relatively cheaply. I use them on my 29g and soon to be on my 190g, with great coral growth and two anemones. A couple of recent comparisons have put MH and LEDs head to head, with little to no difference.

What are the dimensions of your tank? You might be able to get away with a single radion, which you could get used and save some cash as well. It will definitely use less electricity than your T5s, and you can dim them up and down for real sunrise/sunset.

 

[petere1989]

the tank is 48 long, by 18 deep. not sure how high.

 

[Dsotto]

It depends on your budget. I use the 160w razors and love them. Took a little while to fine tune the intensity but corals love it now. You also have to think about if you will ever add something like a reef keeper or neptune later on. Some lights are not compatible with them.

 

[petere1989]

It depends on your budget. I use the 160w razors and love them. Took a little while to fine tune the intensity but corals love it now. You also have to think about if you will ever add something like a reef keeper or neptune later on. Some lights are not compatible with them.

I actually already have both. haha. the apex is set up right now. that is a good point though!

 

[Dsotto]

Yeah the razors captured my attention when they first came out and I love them but not compatible with the neptune. Just depends on your budget and over all take setup. Every light system has pros and cons but I'm stuck on razors. By the way I had a Coralife 4 bulb t-5 fixture over my 90. So I know where you are coming from.

 

[petere1989]

Yeah the razors captured my attention when they first came out and I love them but not compatible with the neptune. Just depends on your budget and over all take setup. Every light system has pros and cons but I'm stuck on razors. By the way I had a Coralife 4 bulb t-5 fixture over my 90. So I know where you are coming from.

ya, i mean its alright. but i've seen pictures of corals growing like, twice the size in a month, and my war coral's grown about a few millimeters in 6 months. Not what I was wanting.

 

[Dsotto]

Yeah same here. It took a year for me to see any decent growth. So far the razor has tripled some of my soft corals and I've seen decent growth on my SPS and it's been 6 months.