Weather cooling off - Hang the Radium up again or leave the ATI Sunpower

[koral_lover]

Now that the weather is cooling down, I am thinking of putting back up my metal halide pendant. It is a 250 watt radium bulb, cayman sun hamilton reflector and M80 ballast. Tank is a 60 gallon cube. I took it down for the summer and ran a 6X24 watt ATI dimmable sunpower to help keep the tank and house cooler. Now that the summer heat is coming down some I am thinking about hanging the radium again.

My dilemma - which lighting source will provide the better growth? My tank is fairly young (roughly a year), so I am looking for growth the next 18 months. I enjoy the colors more of my sps with the radium, however, the colors are also satisfactory with the sunpower from my perspective, so its not a problem to keep running the ATI - I just want the better growth. I am worried the radium will slow down my growth some, which I don't want to do...I know 5-10 years ago most would say MH will provide more growth, but a radium bulb doesn't pack that kind of punch as a 10k and T5s just blanket the tank with light...

Any thoughts of which will provide better growth for those that have experienced both lighting systems?

Feedback is much appreciated.

 

[mikeatjac]

The best growth I have ever gotten was on a Radium bulb. The heat was just too much for me so I switched.

 

[Bdial]

If you don't think a radium packs a punch you should probably just give that light away. If you're happy with the ati and things are growing why change? IMO I would do the radiums with t5s. But again if things are working why change?