Thinking of changing my 40 Breeder lighting, chime in please.

[JAustin]

Hello, thinking about going to T5s for my lighting. Now I have two luminmax III pendants with 250w 14K Phoenix bulbs driven by a dual PFO M80 with blu plus and purple plus t5s with tek reflectors.

I really like tha ability to adjust color with t5s, a simple bulb change that's ou $20. Heat isn't an issue with my halides so that's not the reason. I just like the way the sps grow under t5s. It seems they have thicker branches and more coloration all around the acro branches.

So I was thinking....

Buy a ATI Sunpower 36" 6 bulb fixture or retro one with tek reflectors and workhorse ballasts.

What would you?
Thanks for any input.

 

[BHD]

Get the Sunpower, don't buy the retro one. Sunpower is much nicer looking and it put out a lot of par as well. I have a sunpower 6x54watts on my 75 tank.
As for bulbs, right now I have 3 Blue Plus and 3 Aquablue Special. It is a bit too white. Next time I will try 3 Blue Plus and 2 Aquablue Special and 1 Purple Plus.

ReefGeek has a promotion right now, spend 250 dollars and get 25 dollars off.

 

[dvmsn]

I have run both and I still think you get your best growth out of halides.

 

[glennr1978]

IMO mh is still the best even if it is not the most energy efficient and easiest to use.if I were you I wouldn't change anything.

 

[JAustin]

Metal halide is great, but the bulbs I want are 75 each and the sound if $20 per bulb is just sexy to me. If I want to try out more blue or more white the most ill have to replace with t5s is 20-60 bucks. With halide it's well over $100.

 

[dvmsn]

You are looking short term if talking costs. When you have to replace bulbs, you have to replace 6-8 $ 20.00 bulbs, at $120-160.00. Yes they last longer, but we can have an entire thread about that as well.

 

[JAustin]

Well bulbs would cost me $125 for all 6. I would run 3 blue plus, two purple plus, and a ge6500k. I already have a few bulbs now because I was playing around with my supplementation lighting. So I already have two coral plus, blue plus, and purple plus.

The attractive thing about the Sunpower is the dimming feature. I would really like that.

Thanks everyone for contributing. Please keep the thoughts coming.

Anyone go from mh to t5 and regret it?

 

[Epicreefer]

I went from 2 vho actinic and a 14k 250w mh to t-5 on my old 40g and I liked the mh better. You will get a more even spread with the t-5 but the corals directly under the mh will get less light. If you really look at it your thinking of spending an extra $200+ on a new fixture then new bulbs too so not a cheap change either. I would start by changing your purple plus to another blue plus or actinic for $20 and see how you like that first before changing the lighting.

 

[kaserpick]

I had 2x250w Phoenix's on Coralvue E-ballasts on my 65g. My next 2 tanks were lit by a Sunpower on one and a Powermodule on the other; I liked them. Good growth and color, but I missed my MH's. I later did DIY LED's. Now, I'm back to MH and won't change from them. I won't be tell you they're the 'best', but I will tell you they're my favorite.

 

[glennr1978]

The dimming feature is sweet, but IMO, and it really is just a matter of personal preference, metal halide still the best. I really like the shimmer, and shadowing that mh provides. Looks much more natural to me.

If you're up to it you could probably DIY a mogul socket into your fixture and try radiums. Might be a p.i.t.a., but it's probably possible. From what I've read, when run properly radiums can last up to 18 months. I've only had mine for about 6 months so I can't speak from experience on that one...

All that said, a couple of my top 5 favorite SPS tanks run T5's, lol.

 

[JAustin]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and input. I have anothe b+ so I might just try running it in place of the p+.

I would like to try 20k DE reeflux?

Openions with that bulb?

 

[t4zalews]

I'd say branch thickness is more attributed to flow, but if someone knows for sure it the T5 lighting please correct me.

 

[Pink Dolphin]

i vote the sunpower.