Help Me Decide Lighting...............

[Jade]

I am starting a 36x36x18 build, and I'm not sure about the lighting. I want a nice mixed reef, with some easy SPS on top of the rocks. I am thinking of using 1 250w MH in a nice big reflector, like a lumenbright or something. Give me your suggestions on lighting possibilities. Even T5's are possible, but I want to cover all my bases. Would 1 MH be possible or would 2 be needed? Tell me what you would do!!! Thanks for any ideas you have.

 

[ehren78]

knowing what I do now and spending as much $ on lighting that I have. I would build my own LED set-up with dimming capability! Love that size tank btw

 

[Jade]

Anyone else have any input?

 

[Jade]

Come on folks.....I need some advice here..

 

[greech]

At this point, my money would go to LEDs even if I had to save up to make that happen. The past couple of days I have been reading about the DIY LEDs and I guess I'm just too inept to figure it out without buying a small package and trying it myself. If you are even remotely talented as a DIYer, check into it.

If you are not, and money isn't really an issue, consider the Aqua Illumination SOLs or the Vertex Illuminata. The benefits of these fixtures is the ability to get just about any color you want and also be able to dim them. Just having this flexibility and the savings you will get from not having to replace bulbs every year outways the upfront cost of LEDs IMO.

If you are considering T5s go with a 6 to 8 bulb ATI. At 18" you can probably go with a 24" fixture and raise it up some to get the spread you want. The 36" isn't that much more though. the other option would be to go with T5s and add some LED bars to supplement and add some shimmer.

Can't really comment on MHs as I have not really considered them for myself so i don't know much about them.

If you want something more traditional

 

[cody6766]

I like the idea of a single 250w in a lumenarc or similar (whichever brand makes the one with the widest spread) with 4 supplemental T5s on each side of the reflector. I'd go with 36" blue plus bulbs.

Oh, or LEDs

 

[Jade]

Thanks for the replies. Right now, I have enough stuff to do 8 36" T5 retros. But I am kinda leaning towards the MH option. Just not sure it would be worth it since I have all the T5 stuff on hand. LED is way out of my $. Between the MH, and 8 T5's, which would you do?????