help need new lights

YIPPPEEEEEE....Can't wait to see them on the tank

I think you are good....you have a 55G right.....and NYCBOB also uses T5's and you've seen his tank

IDK what bulbs come with that unit, but after you acclimate the tank to the new lights, you may want to upgrade the bulbs

Personally I would use them anyway, then in 6 months start shopping for replacements

LOL.....sorry....the boards are kinda slow lately   :(

I sent a couple of pms to some light experts...LOL....hopefully they will get them and reply to your thread

personally for price/cost, i wouldnt go for the nova extreme pro. you wont get the penetration you want from t5's from a nova extreme pro. i think theyre good for shallow tanks but not good enough for deeper tanks like what you have. i assume its 22" tall. the nova extreme pro will only create 200 par with good bulbs at a depth of 14". your clams if you chose to get them would definately need to be in the upper 1/3 of your tank. sps would still need to be in the upper 1/3. even then, they still wont "flourish" like what you've been told. if you want penetration from t5's you'd want at least a TEK elite fixture.

my suggestion is to get 3 250w radium's on hamilton m80 HQI ballast (this is VERY important) on a lumenmax elite pendant. this will give you the penetration and awesome coloration. I hate the 14k pheonix and it doesnt compare to the radiums. many people here say they love the pheonix but the radiums on their spec'd ballast cannot be beat. you wouldnt even need any supplementation. with 250w radiums you'll be spending 200$ a year on bulbs. with a 12x39w t5, youll be spending 300$ a year on bulbs and thats not a very good deal on a nova extreme pro.

so for a mh setup, you're looking to spend about 1100 on the hardware if you go with the better pendants

LOL....I know nothing about this stuff.....the above light expert does though  HAHA

Quote:

Originally Posted by btwk12 

ty meowser your always a big help! if not i will go with the extreme pro's. I have been goin to the same lfs since i have been in this hobby, and the guy has the nova extreme metal halides, and he has always said he wishes he would have went with the 12 bulb fixture instead of the halides. and thats a 225 gal tank

The thing about T5's like Nike mentioned, is the amount of light needed to keep sps and clams doesn't penetrate deep enough into the tank to be able to keep them very far down.  With a higher quality fixture like a TEK or an ATI that uses better ballast and better reflectors you'll get better penetration but you will still need to be selective as to where you place these creatures inside of your tank. 

So it's not necissarily the amount of bulbs that you have because without the right kind of reflectors and ballasts kicking out the higher output then you could have 20 bulbs on there and it wouldn't make much of a difference.

since thats the case, 2 lumenarc III pendants would give you more spread but less par, but still more than the nova extreme pro. 19" tall is better, but the nova extreme still wont penetrate that far. if you want penetration, check out ati fixtures. I just switched to one on a shallow tank and had to raise up these t5's about 13" above my water and its still probably more par than my nova extreme. it wasnt a pro, but they use the same components. the "pro" just makes it 6 bulbs instead of 4.

What are the exact tank dimensions?

I agree...check out the ATI Powermodule fixtures.  ReefGeek is a good place to look and have excellent customer service.  You could do a 60" 6 bulb fixture with your choice of bulbs for about $960.  That should give you a descent spread.