Ok, i'm trying to build an oceanic 33gallon reef with 70-75% sps but can't decide on the lights. I originally wanted a 250watt metal halide on lumenbright reflector but I think that would heat the tank to much. I live in the caribbean, so heat is always an issue when you don't have central air conditioning. I need all your opinions to see if i keep that idea or switch to a diy 36led system with dimmable drivers or build a 24" 6bulb t5 system with 2 ballasts for dawn/dusk effect. I'm a little worried on the leds because i've done a lot of research and haven't found to much positive results. At least not from colors, but from growth and long term success. Also the t5 system can be made with 18" bulbs thanks to uvl but i don't know which bulbs to choose. I wanted 3ati b+, 2 aquas and 1 fiji purple but uvl doesn't have them with names similar to this. Help please
Help me decide on lighting for my nano
- Thread starter evil4g63
- Start date
Thanks for your thoughts but i'm not very sure on the leds yet. Problem is i already made a diy kit with 12 leds for a 10 gallon tank that originally had a 150watt halide and i'm not impressed. Don't get me wrong, the colors are much better now but the growth has stopped almost completly. The only thing that's growing know are my paly's and zoa's. I want something that will give me healthy corals but that also makes them grow. But, on the other hand, the chiller is not being pushed too hard now.
That's the reason i'm not sold on leds yet. The tank it's still with the same parameters, same equipment and the growth is less than with halide. That's why i was doing a lot of research. I wanted to be sure that they could rival metal halides or t5's, both in color and growth. But not a lot of people are documenting their switch to leds or seing much growth from their corals, atleast not from sps.
