Lighting a 50 Gallon - Best reflectors? All T5's?

[reefaffinity]

So, I am lighting a 50 gallon tank that is 36" long by 20" tall and I am narrowing down my options. My tank is only 15" wide so my canopy isn't going to by much bigger than that. But because im building it myself, I will make it as tall as I want/need.
Here are some set-ups I was considering.
1. Two Lumen Max 3 reflectors with T5's
2. Two Reef Optix 3 reflectors plus another T5 (the Reef Optix reflectors are smaller than the Lumen Max by a cuple inches, so I can probably fit another bulb in there)
3. Two LumenBrights with no T5's. (these would be kind of a tight fit and the canopy would have to be really tall)
4. All UVI overdriven T5's

I would like to go all T5's, but my tank is a bit deep for that, no? I will have plenty of SPS all over the place so it has to be bright. I figure 6 36" T5's running at 60 watts each should be pretty bright though.

 

[Chef Reef]

get a TEK T-5 system. hands down. your tank isnt to deep for it. you should check out some of the T-5 only tanks that have SPS tanks that are pretty deep. me i run a tek setup on my 55, a friend also uses them on his 90. iv seen them all the way up to a 300gal tank.

 

[reefaffinity]

bump?

 

[qfrisco]

For a tank that's 20" tall, you'll be successful with SPS all the way down to the bottom with MH, MH+T5s, or even T5s. I don't even think you'll need to overdrive the T5s. If you can fit six T5s with Icecap SLR reflectors, you should be good. Overdriving the T5s will be optional.

If you go with the MHs, either of those reflectors will do real well. If you choose a nice 12K or 14K bulb, you might even be able to avoid the T5 supplementation.

So as far as providing enough light for SPS, you'll be fine with all those options. It boils down to shimmer or no shimmer, electricity usage, color variations/options, etc.

 

[reefaffinity]

So, does anyone have an opinion on the ATI fixtures sold at ReefGeek?
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/ATI/Powermodule_Fixtures/

I think I read something about the ATI's being a lot brighter than a Tek Light fixture with the same amount of bulbs. Is this because of better reflectors or what?

 

[qfrisco]

The ATI Powermodules are awesome, and for sure, go with them if they're within your budget, but I've heard they're backordered most of the time. That might be different now though.

 

[illal]

how bout some luminarcs? personally i like the shimmer effect!

 

[reefaffinity]

On the ATI fixtures; Is that little black box with two three prong plugs coming out the ballast? Also what does that other power block (also hooked up to what seems to be the ballast) do?

Does anyone know how the reflectors stand up against (for example) the Tek-2 reflectors by Sunlight Supply?

I am willing to spend the money on an ATI fixture as long as it has some good benefits over the Tek lights which are almost half the cost.

 

[maynardjames]

aqautinics has good fixtures & customer service! i would get one with built in fans, don`t think teks have fans -could be wrong. my 2 cents
but my solarflare rocks.

 

[qfrisco]

Yes - that's the biggest knock on the Teks - they don't have active cooling which lowers the par the bulbs output, and shortens their life.