Lighting upgrade

[mockranouse]

I currently have a 2X96W PC light fixture over my 45 and I am thinking about an upgrade. I'm looking at the nova extreme T5 4X39W and the nova extreme pro T5 6X39W. I was wondering if anyone could suggest one over the other. I don't really want to go for the pro if the extra 2 bulbs aren't going to make a huge difference in my tank for the price. Also, will upgrading my lighting increase my coral growth? I've had a few zoo's, some mushrooms, and a green hammer coral for a couple months and I haven't seen much, if any, growth in any of them and I'm hoping the upgrade will change this.

 

[cardiffgiant]

You will definitely see more growth with more intense lighting. If you want to stay with softies and LPS the 4 bulb should be perfect. The 6 bulb would be better for SPS, and the additional bulbs give you more flexibility to tweak your color.

 

[jdoenumber2]

Doesn't the pro have individual reflectors? I would go 6 leave two off for a week. at that point you will wish you had the six bulb and Taa Daa!

 

[pascal32]

I have both those fixtures with individual reflectors (granted - I don't think all models are like that). I have the 6 on my 72 and it's almost too much for the SPS at the top of the tank (ATI blue+ high par bulbs). the growth is great, though they loose their color, when I move them down they gain color.

The 4 was on a 120 I just bought which the previous owner had softies and LPS. the light isn't enough for that tank.

what size tank do you have?

 

[Johnny C]

IMO I would definatly recommend a Tek Fixture over the NEP, especially because there isn't much (if any) difference in price. Six bulbs would work excellent for anything you'd like to keep (i.e. Anemones, Clams, SPS) and like Ben said would allow you to tweak the color spectrum to your liking. Just remember that you significantly increasing the amount of light so acclimate slowly when you do switch.

 

[mockranouse]

I looked at some tek fixtures and can't find one around the same price as the NEP and the ones that are don't include bulbs or mounting brackets. what exactly is the difference between these two fixtures? I read a few reviews and the only negative that I could find with the NEP is that it doesn't have true individual reflectors, the reflectors are just bent around the bulbs. I think I might be going with the pro because I just found it for over $50 cheaper than I have seen it anywhere else. How exactly should I go about acclimating all my corals to the more intense light?

 

[jdoenumber2]

What is your budget? How long of a fixture do you need? 36"? Have you considered doing a retro in a canopy? You can acclimate corals by shorter photo periods, filtering out the light by use of eggcrate, dont run all of the bulbs at first and im sure there are other ways. If you only have a few corals i would put them on the sand bed. I would personally just do shorter photo periods to start first.

 

[mockranouse]

Well after a bunch of research and the input I got from here I decided to go with the 6X39W NEP. In the end it was cheaper than any other fixture I could find and I haven't heard many bad things about them. How long should the acclimation process take? If I run a shorter photo period should I also have only some of the bulbs on to start with?

 

[jfl14609]

did you see this http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1823789

 

[mockranouse]

I new something like that was going to happen, I just ordered the light yesterday, just a little to late