Thinking of a Lighting Upgrade

[rwessels]

Right now I have 2 of the 48" Aqualight pros over my 10' tank. Those each have 2 @ 150 Watt 10K MH and 2 @ 96 Watt Blue lights. Between each of them I have a 250 Watt 20K MH Pendant. Even with 5 Halide lights I still have areas of the tank that just doesn't get much light at all and the 150's are just not adequate for the SPS that I want to thrive.

I am trying to figure out what to upgrade to. I like having the blue lights come on first before the Halides but I am also trying to save money on the electric bill and bulb replacements. Currently I am on a 9pm to 9am plan with APS and the blue lights come on at like 4pm and the Halides at 7pm (turning off at 2am). I am thinking that it would be better to have 6-7 of the 250 MH's at 14-15K. I would probably have them turn on at 6pm (when I get home from work).

Since I am not that handy, I am not sure that retro kits are the way to go. The canopy that I have is only 7-8 inches tall, but there are dividers so that I have 3 sections. The other sections can take something up to 34 inches and the middle section is like 38 inches. I was thinking of something from aquariumlight.com if they could make 2 custom 32" fixtures (and a standard 36"). Each fixture would have 2 250 Halides which would make them roughly evenly spaced apart. I have acrylic light holders that keep fixtures about 3 inches off the top of the tank (5 inches from the water).

Does anyone have a thought on my lighting logic and a good place to start looking? It is gonna kill me to spend almost 2K on lights, but maybe I can get something out of my old ones.

 

[azmorpheus]

Heres another idea, but what about switching to all T5 lighting. They use a lot less electricty then mh and the bulbs have the same life span if not longer. The web site you listed I went too and they have a 6 bulb T5 setup that produces 30,000 lumens for the same price as one 250w mh set up. Two 6 bulb setups, one on each side would produce more then enough light for you and it would use only 648w of electrity versus the about 1250w your using right now. The only problem I could see is the canopy being divided into three sections.

 

[ADA33]

I hope this doesnt start another big discussion about the contriversy between MH and T5. Because it seems that there are alot of opinions. It would be nice if someone scientifically new which is better.
T-5 sure would be nice for the simple fact that you may not need a chiller.
The MH sure look nice though. Do the T-5 look as good.
Does anybody know what they are using at AT on there new tank? It sure did look nice.

 

[rwessels]

I believe they are only 4 foot fixtures and that would leave me with 2 feet of unlighted tank. That is what I am trying to avoid now, and I even have a light between my 2 4' lights. As for the chiller, it runs even when the lights are out. Guess the pumps are enough to heat the water above 79 degrees.

 

[cerreta]

Wide, I have been interested in the new T6 bulbs, which are touted as the new generation T5's. If I purchase these, I will record LUX measurements of the MH vs the new T6's

This is a worthwhile topic, since the cost of running T6 or T5 is far less than the MH, plus they produce less radiant heat.

 

[clkwrk]

If it was my tank I would run 7 250 pendants. But thats just me .

10k20k10k20k10k20k10k

BTW I run 3 x 250 over my 120 and my 180 will run at least 4.

 

[clkwrk]

Also for pendants in your space I would go for the ROIII's or PFO mini pendants.....