Nova Extreme t5's

[Vanquishxxxx]

I am looking into buying the Nova extreme, t5 canopy. I have a 55g 48inchs long and 20 inches high, and 12 inches deep. I woudl like to know wat i coudl keep with 4/54watts bulbs, 2 10k and 2 actinic blue?. And what i can keep with 8/54 watts , 4 10k and 4 actinic blue?the 4bulb one is 260.00 adn the 8 bulb one is 450.00 which one woudl everone suggest i woudl like to keep everything and anythign i dont wanna have to upgrade later.

 

[dhoch]

Does the nova extreme come with individual reflectors? I'm guess not based on the dimensions....

With individual reflectors you could get away with just about everything with a 4 x 54 W....

Dave

 

[lucifersreef]

what do you mean by individual reflectors

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

do you think i coudl install them afterwords like buy reflector material???

 

[iamquockie]

all of the ads say german parabolic reflector not individual parabolic reflectors. I would say you may want to go with 4x54 tek retro with ind. reflectors. Mine is good and bright. My corraline algae is fading away. If you want to upgrade later, you can buy an icecap ballast and push more power out of each bulb. That would be way more thanenough for the 55

 

[CaptiveReef]

Nova Extreme T-5 canopy

Nova Extreme T-5 canopy

I have the Nova Extreme with the 8 bulbs, on my 120 short and you can keep pretty much any available coral you want.
They are bright!!!!! With the 55 gallon,using the 4 bulb hood is plenty of light.
My corals are coloring up and growing nicely with these lights.


CaptiveReef

 

[TWallace]

I have a 55 with a 4x54w Nova Extreme. Things I'm successfully keeping (so far) are: many zoanthids, ricordea, a green bulb tentacled anemone, tridacna derasa clam (gonna try crocea soon), pearl bubble, galaxea, ricordea, pipe organs, star polyps, colt coral, kenya trees, toadstool leather and xenia. Most of those are pretty low light demanding, other than the clam and possibly the pearl bubble and anemone, though. I was keeping a porites coral with Christmas Tree Worms alive (the porites were spreading nicely across the rock), but the addition of a Flame Angel put an end to both the worms and the porites.

The only coral I tried to keep and failed was an SPS (Cerise). I'm not sure if the light was the problem or not, but I suspect it was. I don't have any experience with SPS though other than that.

The Nova Extremes do not have individual reflectors.

Also, I don't know where you're shopping, but $260 is way too much for a 4x54w Nova Extreme. Drs. Foster Smith has them for $199 right now. That's where I got mine.

 

[iamquockie]

I have heard mixed things about the nova but dunno--lots of people that dog it do not own one so who knows

 

[nikon70]

all i know that is i had 4 t5s and have recently moved to MH 2x150 with 4xt5 marine blue and my tank is suffering.... i think 4-8 t5s is the way of the future , t5s are getting better and better.

 

[TWallace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7791701#post7791701 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by iamquockie
I have heard mixed things about the nova but dunno--lots of people that dog it do not own one so who knows

I think some people put too much emphasis on the individual reflectors and think T5s without them are no better than PC.

 

[04mach1]

I have 8x39 t-5s on a 40 breeder and my shrooms are running for cover.

 

[dhoch]

Twallace,

The numbers bear it out... the output from the T5 bulbs with individual reflectors is 2 times or more as high as without...

Dave

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

ok well 8 t5s would deifnitly be sufficient and most l;ikly 4 t5s would be enough for most corals

 

[Aj_999]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7792313#post7792313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dhoch
Twallace,

The numbers bear it out... the output from the T5 bulbs with individual reflectors is 2 times or more as high as without...

Dave

Yeah and here’s proof:
http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquarium/products/t5reflectcomparo.shtml

 

[dhoch]

You know I wanted to say more than 2, but I knew that I couldn't find that quick enough...

BTW, that's a LUX study, PAR is a much better reading... somewhere Grimreefer did a study of this with PAR....

Dave

 

[TWallace]

I'm sure the individual reflectors make a good sized difference, but I'm not sure I trust the manufacturer of said reflectors to show me the proof. That being said, I am considering upgrading to a Tek fixture in the near future.

 

[dhoch]

Twallace,

Search around for some threads by grimreefer... he did totaly independent tests (he's not a manufacturer), and found similar results...

Dave

 

[spmedi]

As far as I know grim has never tested the par of the nova w/ the 1 reflector. It would be safe to say though that individual reflectors are definitely more efficient. But if you were looking at, say, PCs, then even the Nova w/ the one reflector would be better.

It is not wide enough to mod later unless you really bent each reflector quite a bit. I mean just 1 tek @ 2.5 inches would probably fit prefectly over the 2 middle bulbs in the nova.

I do think that someone could take a full sheet and mod it to fit the Nova in such a way to create partically bent refectors which would probably be a nice improvement.