Looking for opinions on a possible lighting upgrade. Those with actual experience with the fixtures greatly appreciated but any and all opinions wanted.
I've got a 300DD (72x36 footprint) and have been using an ATI Powermodule 8 bulb 60" fixture over it for several years. When I first set the tank up it did great and I had crazy growth and colors from all kinds of SPS and LPS in the tank (even though it was only 60" I could grow SPS in the far corners on the bottom), I add that only to point out that I'm not dissatisfied per say with the T5 setup. Life got busy and the tank slipped back a few notches on the priority and for the last couple years has been on cruise control with only a few corals and a bunch of fish. Fast forward to now and I was on the fence about taking the tank down but decided I like it and decided to do something better with it again. That being the case I've been going in and cleaning things up and deciding on how to go forward which brings me to lighting.
I've been considering moving to LED for awhile now since it seems to be the future, draws less power and puts less heat into the tank (my understanding) so the question I put to you is should I make the switch?
I've found a good deal on a set of Gen3 Pro fixtures so should I consider them or are the gen 4 stuff really that much better? I can get the Gen 3 pro units for basically half the price of the Gen 4 pro units which is the real kicker since I can't seem to find much on the pros and cons of the two gens. Also is it really worth it to shift from the T5 fixture to the LED? I'm guessing that power consumption won't be that much different but I do like the idea of having more configurability with the LED's so it's not a hard on / off of the lights etc. and would love to put less heat into the tank so I don't have to keep the house as cold to compensate (I'm not going to run a chiller).
Is it worth it to shift to LED and if so are the gen 4's worth the extra money? My intention as I rebuild the tank will be to do roughly 65% SPS with 35% LPS and zoo's.
If I do the LED's will 3 do it or would I need 4 or more? I thought about doing two over the center section and one over each side section if that makes sense.
I've got a 300DD (72x36 footprint) and have been using an ATI Powermodule 8 bulb 60" fixture over it for several years. When I first set the tank up it did great and I had crazy growth and colors from all kinds of SPS and LPS in the tank (even though it was only 60" I could grow SPS in the far corners on the bottom), I add that only to point out that I'm not dissatisfied per say with the T5 setup. Life got busy and the tank slipped back a few notches on the priority and for the last couple years has been on cruise control with only a few corals and a bunch of fish. Fast forward to now and I was on the fence about taking the tank down but decided I like it and decided to do something better with it again. That being the case I've been going in and cleaning things up and deciding on how to go forward which brings me to lighting.
I've been considering moving to LED for awhile now since it seems to be the future, draws less power and puts less heat into the tank (my understanding) so the question I put to you is should I make the switch?
I've found a good deal on a set of Gen3 Pro fixtures so should I consider them or are the gen 4 stuff really that much better? I can get the Gen 3 pro units for basically half the price of the Gen 4 pro units which is the real kicker since I can't seem to find much on the pros and cons of the two gens. Also is it really worth it to shift from the T5 fixture to the LED? I'm guessing that power consumption won't be that much different but I do like the idea of having more configurability with the LED's so it's not a hard on / off of the lights etc. and would love to put less heat into the tank so I don't have to keep the house as cold to compensate (I'm not going to run a chiller).
Is it worth it to shift to LED and if so are the gen 4's worth the extra money? My intention as I rebuild the tank will be to do roughly 65% SPS with 35% LPS and zoo's.
If I do the LED's will 3 do it or would I need 4 or more? I thought about doing two over the center section and one over each side section if that makes sense.