TEK or ATI

[philosophile]

FWIW, I just bought a TEK elite earlier this year, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's quiet, has fans, the two outer most bulbs are on one plug, the 4 in the middle are on another, unlike the original TEK which had 50/50.

I'm not growing SPS yet, so I'm only running it with 5 bulbs at the moment. But when the tank is fully broken in a few months, I might try running some SPS.

 

[Froggy]

FWIW, I just bought a TEK elite earlier this year, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's quiet, has fans, the two outer most bulbs are on one plug, the 4 in the middle are on another, unlike the original TEK which had 50/50.

I'm not growing SPS yet, so I'm only running it with 5 bulbs at the moment. But when the tank is fully broken in a few months, I might try running some SPS.

Just to clear up the bulb banks on TEK fixtures. 6 bulb units are divided 2 and 4. The 8 bulb unit is 4 and 4 (50|50).

You do not need the elite to get good SPS growth either, especially on a 75 gallon. The original TEK will do just fine with quality bulbs.

 

[rtparty]

Just to clear up the bulb banks on TEK fixtures. 6 bulb units are divided 2 and 4. The 8 bulb unit is 4 and 4 (50|50).

You do not need the elite to get good SPS growth either, especially on a 75 gallon. The original TEK will do just fine with quality bulbs.

+1 right here. You don't NEED an ATI on a 75g tank. You certainly don't need the Tek Elite either. The Tek Elite might give you better bulb life however.

The standard Tek fixture with no shield and an external fan, will be PLENTY for a 75g tank.

 

[zeeter]

Ok, so now I'm back to the beginning. Is ATI on a 75 overkill or will it actually give me better results than the tek elite? Sorry to be a pest here.

And my understanding was that the corals need a mixture of around 6500K and 20,000K for best results, where the deep water corals take advantage of the 20,000K and the ones that naturally are more shallow need the 6500K. So I guess I should head out for some more bulbs. Good thing they're not too expensive.

 

[Saltwatercoral2]

If you have the money, I would get the ATI.. You can get good results with either fixture, ATI being better though.

Also, Youve already considered the ATI, so I would just go that route.. This way your not second guessing yourself if you bought the tek fixture.. Keep in mind.. With an ATI sunpower you can get away with a slightly smaller fixture then your tank.. With the teks Im not sure if you can. So you can use a 36 inch fixture on your 48 inch tank.

 

[karsseboom]

Get the best, highest par fixture you can slap over that tank. Don't listen to the people telling you that the reg tek fixture will work and be fine. With sps you don't want what you can barely get by on you want the biggest fixture blasting you corals and they will look beautiful.

 

[Froggy]

Get the best, highest par fixture you can slap over that tank. Don't listen to the people telling you that the reg tek fixture will work and be fine. With sps you don't want what you can barely get by on you want the biggest fixture blasting you corals and they will look beautiful.

I couldnt disagree with you more. Your above statement is misleading IMO. Lighting is one piece of the puzzle.

Looking at YOUR tank stats I left myself wondering why you are ony using 250 watt halides? Why not use 400's or more. Based on your post you are selling your corals short! ( sarcasm of course ).

The regular TEK is more than enough for a 75. More is not necessarily better. Tank depth has a lot to do with what intensity will be sufficient. Yes ATI is one of if not the best T5 fixture on the market. That being said, it is not ATI or bust.

 

[karsseboom]

I couldnt disagree with you more. Your above statement is misleading IMO. Lighting is one piece of the puzzle.

Looking at YOUR tank stats I left myself wondering why you are ony using 250 watt halides? Why not use 400's or more. Based on your post you are selling your corals short! ( sarcasm of course ).

The regular TEK is more than enough for a 75. More is not necessarily better. Tank depth has a lot to do with what intensity will be sufficient. Yes ATI is one of if not the best T5 fixture on the market. That being said, it is not ATI or bust.

I have plenty of par in my tank, I have 500 par on my sand bed.

 

[jbannick18]

Yay 500 on your sandbed have fun with softies. Karess stop spreading false information. A standard tek like all have said is PLENTY of light for sps for a 75

 

[SkullV]

I couldnt disagree with you more. Your above statement is misleading IMO.

Karess stop spreading false information.

+1 read through the rest of this guys post history as opposed to the rest of the helpful people on this thread. Who's advice to take will be a simple choice.

 

[zeeter]

Ok, well if I was going Tek I'd go with the Tek Elite for no other reason than the added cooling fans. So we're looking at a minimum of $402 plus around $60 for the legs. The ATI fixture is $499 and appears to come with the hanging cables - everything I'd need to hang it minus a couple of things I can get at Home Depot for $2.

Both free shipping. This is around a $40 difference, all said and done. I don't think saving $40 is enough money to justify downgrading from the top of the line to the 2nd in line.

BTW: I have the bulbs, and the ones I need to replace I'd have to replace either way.

 

[rtparty]

Get the best, highest par fixture you can slap over that tank. Don't listen to the people telling you that the reg tek fixture will work and be fine. With sps you don't want what you can barely get by on you want the biggest fixture blasting you corals and they will look beautiful.

Your disregard for facts and utter lack of common sense makes me question if yoi are nothing more than a troll on here.

Zeeter, don't listen to this guy. Just like Ted said, search his past posts and see how ridiculous he is. Either Tek will work just fine or you can go to the ATI if you can find a way to hang it.

ANY of them will work great on your tank!

 

[DaveG99]

I bought an ATI sunpower 6x24 and didnt even consider a tek fixture.

 

[zeeter]

(snip some comments)

Either Tek will work just fine or you can go to the ATI if you can find a way to hang it.

ANY of them will work great on your tank!

Thanks - I'm going to go with the ATI simply because of the minor price difference over Tek. It may be more than I need but I'd rather get the best than, as someone else said, regret not getting the best later on.

I haven't heard anyone saying that the ATI would be too much for the tank so as long as I'm not over-lighting it I think I'm fine.

 

[jbannick18]

Just be sure to start everything low and light acclimate them.

 

[zeeter]

Ordered the ATI 6x54 SunPower plus 3 Blue+ bulbs.

So I'll have 3 Blue+, One Purple+, One Actinic, and one Aquablue Special. All of my current bulbs were bought since the end of January so I'll be good with those.

BTW: any suggestions on how I should arrange the bulbs back to front?

 

[SteveMH]

You've picked your light, and I'm sure you will be more than happy with it. But just a general rule that can be applied to most all equipment ... try not to get too caught up in the latest and the greatest. A lot of times you do get what you pay for in this or any other hobby. But eventually you hit a point where the "very best" equipment really isn't going to add any substantial improvements to your tank and most definitely isn't going to make you any better of a hobbyist. Some of the marketing and pricing I see in our hobby today has gone beyond being ridiculous. Absurd is more like it, and it's easy to get caught up in. Simple fact is, sure it's nice to own the "very best", but ya don't need it by any means in order to be very successful in this hobby.

 

[karsseboom]

Great thats the best choice and the light I would have bought myself.

 

[karsseboom]

Your disregard for facts and utter lack of common sense makes me question if yoi are nothing more than a troll on here.

Zeeter, don't listen to this guy. Just like Ted said, search his past posts and see how ridiculous he is. Either Tek will work just fine or you can go to the ATI if you can find a way to hang it.

ANY of them will work great on your tank!

Facts? You have a 24 gal nano. Where talking sps here and IMO I would hit them hard with high par. That's from my experiance with sps. I had had a ton of different lighting fixtures and that's what works best. As for skullv that dude is ridiculous and always gets flamed on here, take a look at his past posts. People think a ecotech dealer the way he forces his opinion on people.

 

[rtparty]

Facts? You have a 24 gal nano. Where talking sps here and IMO I would hit them hard with high par. That's from my experiance with sps. I had had a ton of different lighting fixtures and that's what works best. As for skullv that dude is ridiculous and always gets flamed on here, take a look at his past posts. People think a ecotech dealer the way he forces his opinion on people.

Do you use an ATI or Tek? Have you ever used either?

I used an ATI Sunpower on my 40g Breeder for 8 months. A LFS I worked for used Teks on their systems. Guess what? Both grew SPS just fine with great color.

I know that is hard to hear but I actually have experience with both systems.