Lighting questions.

Discussion on aquatic lighting.

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turbo98
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Lighting questions.

Post by turbo98 »

I have a 37g tall cube. I currently have a Coralife 24" T5 fixture. I was thinking about buying a second fixture or going with a 250w metal halide fixture a member on here is selling. I just don't want to have to deal with buying a chiller and I'm not going to hang the MH fixture. With all that being said, what do you guys/gals think would be the best?
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Fishfood
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by Fishfood »

It all really depends on what you want to keep and how deep that tank is. The 250 would be fine if its raised and not in an enclosed canopy. I really don't know much about the coralife t5s. If they aren't individual reflectors than you aren't getting the most bang for the buck. I've been running T5's on and Icecap ballast and a Tek ballast. I have a deep 65 gal tank and my lps at the bottom of the tank have a hard time adjusting to the light. The Icecap overdrives 4 bulbs and I'm using individual reflectors. I use to have icecap reflectors. Now I think I'm using the other brand reefgeeks sells. If there is enough room you could just add more T5s' with some individual reflectors.
turbo98
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by turbo98 »

It's actually a 150w MH. I can't decide on that or just buying a second T5 fixture. Everything seems to be doing okay with what I have now, but I would like more so that I can run any kind of life.
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29nanomob
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by 29nanomob »

imo MH are the way to go they cover the spectrum and 1 bulb can do the power of 4 t-5's you can actualy get a ballast from an outdoor pole light and put a remote socket and marine bulb about 8in off the water. cost me about 50.00 opposed to 125
reefing just isnt the same living outside the glass....
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Kresnahw22
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by Kresnahw22 »

29Nano where can you get the outside light bulb ballasts from. And how well does it work compared to marine light ballasks
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29nanomob
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by 29nanomob »

homedepot in the electrical section 25.00. its like a street lamp. just take the light bulb crap out, screw it to your stand, and run the socket wire up to your hood if your water heats up put a fan on the back... and yea mh is the way to go... i ran 1 street ballast and one electronic. the only dif was the street lamp took about 10sec longer to kick on. whoo 10sec... and the one i used came out of an old wall pac light... ill try to grab a few today.
reefing just isnt the same living outside the glass....
reverof
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Re: Lighting questions.

Post by reverof »

In all honesty, there is no reason for a MH bulb in a cube. I would add another T5 to it...
The great things about cubes is they are small compact and the T5's put off so little heat that there is little evaporation. T5's are by far the best alternative (at the moment as LED is stepping up quite well) to using a MH. Also for a MH you should have at minimum 6" from water to bulb for many reasons. You obviously have been happy with the T5 in your setup now, you just want some UNF, another T5 will give you that.

I have run T5's on many many tanks, presently even have 4 over a 92 wave, with a TON of coral in it, from frog spawn, leathers, mushrooms, X-Large cup coral, scroll coral, and many others. They do GREAT and keep heat down.
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