210 gal tank and lights

[stangbabe1993]

are the tek lights pretty good ? I'm going to get a 210 gal starfire tank and I was wondering if they would be enough for as tall as that tank is and can I keep pretty much anything? I was looking at the new nova light that is 72" long what do you guys think of those. and I was just looking on that site and there was a tek light with 4,6,or 8 bulbs how many should I have for this size tank? I have 2X250W metal halides now on my 90 gal but was thinking the T5 for cutting down on my electric bill.

 

[mr_x]

i'd go 8. how deep is the 210?

 

[stangbabe1993]

its 29' high

 

[stangbabe1993]

and will I be able to keep pretty much anything

 

[wangotango]

I think you'd be happier either with the 72" Aquactinics Constellation (with coral placement considerations) or two 36" Icecap retros with IC ballasts to overdrive the bulbs. No reason you can't use T5 on a tank that deep, but IMO you're going to want more power than a TEK.
-Justin

 

[stangbabe1993]

how many bulbs do the 36" ice caps have and what do you mean about the ic ballast and overdriveing it( i seen that statement before on her just not sure what you mean) do you just buy the retro kits for the lights and then a ballast and will it still run less electricity than the metal halides. sorry for sounding so dumb I'm a women and don't know a whole lot about the electric

 

[stangbabe1993]

and also as far as the ballast goes I have seen these kind of things in home depot can you use them and what would you look for when purchasing. and can you get anything that would be equal to this stuff at an electric supply store

 

[stangbabe1993]

that aquatinics constellation is alittle steep for me I looke on that site and they are 1000.00. the new nova extreme I'm looking at has (6) 39W 460 nm and (6) 39w 10,000k bulbs and they all have individual contoured reflectors. for about 650.00. and if I go up on a certain day of the week I have a coupon for 30% off. its that big store in Lancaster

 

[wangotango]

The Pro is a decent fixture for the price, but if you don't feel like having any restrictions you could use something with more "umph." The reflectors on the Pro cannot compare with the Icecap or Aquactinics reflectors.
The Constellation has (14) 39w bulbs and would allow you to keep SPS and other high-light demanding things in the upper 2/3 and lower light demanding softies and LPS towards the bottom.
The Icecap retros are just the guts of the lighting system: reflectors, endcaps, ballast, with no housing. T5 spec ballasts will power the bulbs at the wattage listed (36" bulbs = 39w etc) but the Icecap ballast will "overdrive" the bulb to a higher wattage giving you more penetration. I'm not sure how much higher a 39w bulb goes, but a 54w bulb is overdriven to around 83w. If you went with two 36" retros with 6 bulbs each with IC ballasts, IMO you could keep whatever you wanted where you wanted.
-Justin

 

[stangbabe1993]

ok so when I look for this I just get a regular ice cap ballast. I kind of know what the retro kits are I have that with my VHO's and I have an ice cap ballast ( its a ice cap 430 ballast)with those could I use that and just get the t5 retro kit
Kathy

 

[mr_x]

but overdriving the bulbs...and more wattage...isn't that what you are trying to avoid? i would just go with a 3 x 250 watt halide fixture from TFP. 30% off, and you got yourself something that will work for whatever coral you want. you are not going to save as much money as you think on the electric bill.

 

[stangbabe1993]

thats what I was wondering I have 2 X 250 metal halides now on my 90 gal. It probablly would be cheaper to get 1 more. or could I do the 250 MH on each side and do t5 in the middle. how are the braces on a tank that big is it one in the center. I didn't pay attention when I was up at TFP.

 

[chilwil84]

a 210 should have 2 braces making 3 mh perfect. you could add some t5 retro kits to supplement with color and give a little extra umph in lighting power. since you already have 2 250s i would get a third of the same type and ballast so they look the same.

 

[stangbabe1993]

thanks everyone that answered me. I'll probablly just get another MH. and I guess do the T5 for the actinics .now should I do the day bulbs in with the actinics and how many of each or should I do just a couple of actinics in the t5's