I'm wanting to get opinion's on what type of lighting I should use for roughly a 100g tank its 60" long 18" wide 20" deep. I was thinking either 6 T5 48" lights or 2 MH and 2 T5 actinic. What would you use and if these choices aren't what you would do please give another option. I would like to keep a variety of corals in my tank I'm really not set on any 1 type yet so would like the lighting to be flexible.
Lighting?
- Thread starter BrianOKC
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hahnmeister
In Memoriam
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Fauna-Marin 6x80watt T5 setup... $649, includes bulbs. One of the best T5 setups out there, and its exactly 5' long. You can use it as a stand-alone fixture, or inside a canopy. Id do it over the halides FWIW. Considering the cost of a 6x80watt Tek retro from reefgeek is the same price, but doesnt have fans/active cooling, or as good of reflectors, nor the fixture/box itself... the Fauna-marin is a true 'steal'.
Fauna-Marin 6x80watt T5 setup... $649, includes bulbs. One of the best T5 setups out there, and its exactly 5' long. You can use it as a stand-alone fixture, or inside a canopy. Id do it over the halides FWIW. Considering the cost of a 6x80watt Tek retro from reefgeek is the same price, but doesnt have fans/active cooling, or as good of reflectors, nor the fixture/box itself... the Fauna-marin is a true 'steal'.
I'm pretty sure that 60" T5 setup will not fit in my canopy so that kinda rules the 60" T5's out. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck using the 48" T5's and i think the max i can get to fit across the tank is 6 maybe 7 Tek Retrofit type lights. Do you think 6 48" T5 would be enough to keep most corals in 60"L X 17"W X 20"D tank or would I be better off going with 2-3 250 MH lights?
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
If you go with 4' units, you could get away with 6 bulbs, but I would go with 8 just in case you decide to use more blue bulbs or need the extra light. At that, you could still use the fauna-marin units, or the Teks. If you go with the Teks, call Geek and have them upgrade the reflectors to the Icecap SLRs though... much nicer.
The reason I am going with the pure T5 over the halide option is that I dont know how well you could actually fit a decent combo in there. You could squeeze 2x250wattDE pendants in there... PFOs are only 8" wide... and this leaves about 10" front to back...perfect for a 4x54wattT5 setup... which is a great combo... but I dont know that you need it. Thats 500watts of halide and 216 watts of T5... 716 watts!!! Considering I know that the 8x54wattT5s will do for only 432 watts, the 716 seems a little much...
so then you could downsize the halides to 150s... but why? You pay just as much per ballast, bulb and reflectors with 150s as you do with 250s... and IMO 250s are the better buy for down the road and bulb availability. So I wouldnt do this. The other option is to use 2x250wattDE with 2x54wattT5s... but that leaves the T5s with very little effective output... 108 watts of T5 vs. 500 watts of halide.
This CAN work though... its just a little harder. I have seen this n a few tanks and the best combos with dual 250s and 2xT5s that I have seen are...
-2xUshio 14,000K and 2x ATI blue+. This gives a warm, slightly icy blue look. Corals seem to really love it though. note that there is no true actinic though, just blue T5s. Some dont like this, as they want the seperate actinics for 'night' viewing. In truth, the 10,000K and 14,000K Ushios have loads of actinic in their output already, so the blue+ bulbs are the perfect 'suppliment' to their output.
-2xpheonix 14,000K and 2x UVL SuperActinic or G-man True actinic03. The pheonix is a great bulb, but the only thing is does lack is a good actinic peak. If it had this actinic peak, it would be similar to the radiums, if not better. Adding the two T5s to fill in this spectrum, as well as make the greens pop, really helps. this combo is much bluer than the Ushio/blue+ combo, but about just as powerful. The pheonix, even though they are bluer, are higher in output, which makes up for the fact that the actinic T5s are about 1/2 to 2/3 the output of the blue+ bulbs.
Both are great options, dont get me wrong. I just find the abilities to mix/match bulbs with only 2 T5 strips to be a little more challenging. With 4 rows of T5s, there is enough blue/actinic output to suppliment even a 6500K bulb and still have it look decent. With only 2 rows, 10,000Ks are even too strong to be balanced out. So you use 4 rows of T5s... which with 500watts of halide... is enough for a 120g, more than you need for a 90.
Thats sort of why I just defaulted to suggesting all T5s. If you dont mind the 700+ watts, then by all means, the halide+T5 is a great option... but its slight overkill. A 6 hour daily photoperiod would be plenty. A setup like this would also cost you at best about $800-900. Enough to just consider a maristar rather than retrofitting (the current maristars are 2x250wattDE + 2x54wattT5, the new ones will be 2x250wattDE + 4x54wattT5). A full T5 setup would be much less, as well as only 432 watts.
The reason I am going with the pure T5 over the halide option is that I dont know how well you could actually fit a decent combo in there. You could squeeze 2x250wattDE pendants in there... PFOs are only 8" wide... and this leaves about 10" front to back...perfect for a 4x54wattT5 setup... which is a great combo... but I dont know that you need it. Thats 500watts of halide and 216 watts of T5... 716 watts!!! Considering I know that the 8x54wattT5s will do for only 432 watts, the 716 seems a little much...
so then you could downsize the halides to 150s... but why? You pay just as much per ballast, bulb and reflectors with 150s as you do with 250s... and IMO 250s are the better buy for down the road and bulb availability. So I wouldnt do this. The other option is to use 2x250wattDE with 2x54wattT5s... but that leaves the T5s with very little effective output... 108 watts of T5 vs. 500 watts of halide.
This CAN work though... its just a little harder. I have seen this n a few tanks and the best combos with dual 250s and 2xT5s that I have seen are...
-2xUshio 14,000K and 2x ATI blue+. This gives a warm, slightly icy blue look. Corals seem to really love it though. note that there is no true actinic though, just blue T5s. Some dont like this, as they want the seperate actinics for 'night' viewing. In truth, the 10,000K and 14,000K Ushios have loads of actinic in their output already, so the blue+ bulbs are the perfect 'suppliment' to their output.
-2xpheonix 14,000K and 2x UVL SuperActinic or G-man True actinic03. The pheonix is a great bulb, but the only thing is does lack is a good actinic peak. If it had this actinic peak, it would be similar to the radiums, if not better. Adding the two T5s to fill in this spectrum, as well as make the greens pop, really helps. this combo is much bluer than the Ushio/blue+ combo, but about just as powerful. The pheonix, even though they are bluer, are higher in output, which makes up for the fact that the actinic T5s are about 1/2 to 2/3 the output of the blue+ bulbs.
Both are great options, dont get me wrong. I just find the abilities to mix/match bulbs with only 2 T5 strips to be a little more challenging. With 4 rows of T5s, there is enough blue/actinic output to suppliment even a 6500K bulb and still have it look decent. With only 2 rows, 10,000Ks are even too strong to be balanced out. So you use 4 rows of T5s... which with 500watts of halide... is enough for a 120g, more than you need for a 90.
Thats sort of why I just defaulted to suggesting all T5s. If you dont mind the 700+ watts, then by all means, the halide+T5 is a great option... but its slight overkill. A 6 hour daily photoperiod would be plenty. A setup like this would also cost you at best about $800-900. Enough to just consider a maristar rather than retrofitting (the current maristars are 2x250wattDE + 2x54wattT5, the new ones will be 2x250wattDE + 4x54wattT5). A full T5 setup would be much less, as well as only 432 watts.
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