lighting debate! what do you think?

jpitts101

New member
Ok, so i've been reading and reading and still havent found the best solution to a lighting system for my 105. Just about everyone has pro's and cons on lighting. So i went with the 3 main arguments. I started with pc's, then added T-5's and just put a metal halide on. Does anyone else go this route? The reason i went this way is so that i can get all the main lighting systems and spectrums in my tank. All together i have a little over 500 watts per gallon. What do you all think? If i need to do some changes i can. I have 4 other tanks, one of which im thinking about making a frag tank so i can use any of the unneeded lighting if any. All reply's are greatly appreciated. thanks
 
Sup JD I think you should go with just the halides and a couple of actinic t5s. Do you really have 5000w's over the tank? You really don't wanna measure in watts per gallon, but the intensity of the light. Ideally on that sized tank you could either run like maybe 6-8 t5s or IMO 2x250w 14-20k halides with some t5 suppliments if any supps would be the best, but then you got heat (but if are already running them?). What exact wattage, kelvin, etc halides are you running?
 
the halide is a coral life. its 150 w, 14 k the t-5 are 4x49 ( one attinic) and the pc's are 2 x 10,000 and 2 attinic 240 watts
 
Well unless you want to upgrade to 250s I would just get another 150w put one on each end and use the t5s also. With the other lights the pcs aren't really doing much that I could see. Maybe good for a frag tank...
 
thanks Kyle, i took the PC's off and didnt think it looked as good. thats one reason i went with one 150 mh's didnt want to go too big yet, and the t-5 also put out a different color. i really like the way the PC looks. thats one reason i wanted to bring the lighting of the 3 together. i dont see how people debate all of them, i think they all bring something different out in your tank. ( im still partial to the t-5's though)
 
Hey man if it's what you like keep it. Is it bluer or what that makes you like the pcs?
 
no, its brighter. not much blue at all. i can just see more detail with all them on. i think they all have their benifits and specialities. if i take any of them off i loose something, whether it be just a minor detail in a fish or nicer color patterns. if i could shrink my pic's down i would post some, RC says there too big.
 
You have to use like microsoft paint and sketch and skew, then add them to photobucket. Then you copy and paste the img link and there you go...
 
sorry about the first one, i was looking for some sand i can make live and that was a site for southdown. my bad. if you need more pic's let me know.
 
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