Going just a little bit crazy!

[rackyrane]

:help: :help:
This whole lighting thing has pulled me to a dead stop. I can't buy anything else or go any further until I settle this.
The problem is my lack of lighting. I have a tank I bought fully set up that was a FO tank. Had some really bad dead rock and fake plants and some cool fish. It is a 110 gal, 30 " deep, 48" long tank. I eventually want to keep corals--maybe even SPS. Currently, it has regular fluorescent lights.
Have been doing the research before jumping in and I know I probably need MH lights, right? Or are T-5's enough? Is the glimmer effect with the MH's really worth the trouble with the heat, etc?
If I get the MH's what's a good, reliable brand and where do I buy them? Any place to get a good deal? Should I buy them used? What watt should I get and should I get a combo of lights? Sorry for all the questions at once. Thanks for reading all of this!

 

[fbm]

You can read for hours on this subject and still not have an answer.
Personnally the shimmering effect give me a headache when I look at a tank with MH for too long. If you want to go MH then I would suggest supplementing them with some form of flourecsents just to get rid of the shimmer.
30 inches is a deep tank for a reef. It can be done but I wouldn't risk it with anything other than MH that way you are sure you will get the pars you need down that low. Every tall 110 I have seen has MH on them.
That being said I have T5's and I love them. I have 8x54's on a 72 gallon bowfront. I bought these with the intention of being able to keep anything and everything. There is alot of debate on if I can or not. I personnaly will try anything with them that I would like to keep. I love LPS's and don't really care for SPS's. So I shouldn't have any trouble at all. I will get a clam here sometime in the next six months or so.
As far as brands go there are differences and you do get what you pay for with in reason. I wouldn't go with any cheap thing from china though because that is what you will get. Yes they can be repaired/modified to work well by why spend money twice? Get something that is UL listed at least. And personnally I love the color of the 14k bulbs in the MH/HQI lighting they just gave me a headache. Also I still believe t5's to be way more cheaper to run than MH and you don't have to worry about the heat. The hottest I have ever seen my fixture is 93 degrees and that is nothing compared to MH fixture temperatures in excess of 180 degrees. Mh's will cause a huge strain on your house air conditioning system most people dont think about. You are paying to keep you tank cool, paying for the added costs of running those lights and also paying for more air conditioining time to keep the house cool.
Go with whatever makes sense to you. But you do have a deep tank, just keep that in mind for whatever you choose.

 

[fbm]

Alot of help huh?

 

[rackyrane]

Yes, it was helpful because I didn't think of the effect on the home air conditioning. I have been looking on the big

[hr]
site at a couple of fixtures they have there but I am not sure about getting something so expensive from there. Also have looked at another big site (can't mention name--is a competitor to the animals sold here) and the prices are huge.
May just go with T-5's like you suggested and not keep any SPS or clams. So your LPS's do well with T-5's? I'm going to have to look into what the LPS's are and see if those would suit me. What are your favorite LPS's? I might look them up!
Thanks so much for the reply.

 

[dueces]

I love my T5's. I had te same debate when I was upgrading my lighting. I kept leaning towards HQI's but the heat issue and finding the right setup was killing me (I have a center brace and was nervous about shadow and melting the brace). After upgrading from a Current Orbit to Acquatinics T5's I was very impressed and still are. T5's lights are strong, the bulbs are small but they put out almost no heat. My heat went down when I added them. If you can try and find a retro kit and put as many bulbs in there as possible or build one if you have a canopy b/c you can mount them the inside of it. Good Luck!!!

 

[rackyrane]

Thanks. My hubbie said he would build the lights into the canopy for me, if I wanted. Off to look up a T-5 retro kit!