lighting for my 90 gal

[Reliable1]

lighting for 90 gal
I am looking to upgrade the lighting in my 90gal reef tank. I am currently using pc's. Would like to hear any opinions on what lighting i should use. I am considerding the following:

Odyssea 48" 542W Metal Halide System

System Support:2x175W HQI , 2x96W CF, and 6xBluemoon LED

What do you think?

Thanks
Frank

 

[Rogger Castells]

Personally I would try T5's like the tek 4 or 6 x54wt. t5 hood, 175w of MH will produce more heat and less par per watt than the t5. Plus you have better color.

 

[zoltetov]

I've heard the same about the t5's. I've kind of regretted my mh set-up i've got going. There's tons of light, and the coloration is great, but i don't get much growth out of anything. I think the wattage (electric bill) is way out of wack with the production.

(of course, I also have 15K xm bulbs, which would probably explain the low growth.)

 

[bawla47]

theres goods and bads to both lighting systems, MH and T5s, but its a matter of your needs.

My 30 gallon has a 14k 150 watt mh, and my main has 6x 54 watt T5s.


T5s produce more thorough par throughout the tank. because of that, there are no shadows and no shimmer. I really like those features of my MH tank.

But t5s you have the option of changing your bulbs VERY easily till you find the color that you like., youll get better growth and can put corals almost anywhere in the tank, and they last almost twice as long before you need to replace them.

for lighting whatever you choose however. Id highly reccomend 2 x 250 watt setup,

175 wont be all that much for the height of your tank.

or 6x 54 watt T5 setup


about heat, people say t5s product less heat then MH, which isnt really true. T5s produce the same amt of heat wattage as MH, but there heat is disipated throughout the lenght of the tube, compared to a centralized point in which MH produces.

 

[Reliable1]

How high of the water would i have to put the t5's???????

 

[Reliable1]

Where would be the best place to purchase the T5's???? And will i be able to have hard corals?

 

[bawla47]

best place i found that i purchased my lights from were sunlight supply. at the time atleast, dont know if theres cheaper elsewhere now.

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquarium/contact.shtml

i paid 400 i think for the fixture, and 7 bulbs. and they sent me an extra bulb free, not sure if they messed up or a freebie.

email them, and ask how much for the fixture, whatever bulbs you plan on running, and shipping.

id reccomend 3 aquabulbs and 3blue+(what i run)

or 3 blue+ 2 aqua and 1 daylight,- daylight will bring out yellow and red more.

or 4 blue+ 2 aqua.




for height, id run then no more then 3-5" off the top. id consider overdriving the bulbs for that tall of a tank also, but youd be ok stock, just keep the corals a little higher up.
with those lights, you can keep anything. except soft corals tend to do poorly and will probably eventually shrivel up and die.