Lighting question

[jw1977]

I'm considering purchasing the coralife aqualight pro lights for my 90 g. They come with 2 MH as well as compact fluorescent. Do the compact fluorescents make this nit a good buy? I don't know much about compacts. Do they affect coral growth or do MH take care of that. I can get the fixture pretty cheap. Would t5 make that big of difference?

 

[wangotango]

With halides, the PC aren't going to be adding a whole lot to the amount of light penetrating through your tank. They're there to be used as actinics to supplement the halides.
 
T5 are better than compacts, but again in this fixture their main purpose if for supplementation.

 

[jw1977]

Thanks for the reply. Remind me, it's the halides that grow coral right? I can save around $250 by the fixture with compacts, should I go for it? Also, for a 90g tank are 2 150w halides enough or should I step up to the 2 250w halides. I don't want to go overkill but I want to able to grow anything.

 

[wangotango]

PC, T5, and halides will all grow coral. In a fixture like the one you're looking at, the halides are the real powerhouse, since you aren't going to be doing a whole lot with two actinic PC or T5. I'd personally go with the one with T5 and the 250w halides. T5 last longer and you've got a larger selection of bulbs to chose from over PC.

 

[jw1977]

The 2 250's won't be too much? I don't want to have to buy a chiller.

 

[acrylic51]

(2) 250's wouldn't be to much....what is the design of your canopy? Might have to provide some type of ventilation to remove excess heat from the canopy to avoid it being transferred to the DT. Alot of people associate MH's with chillers.....Alot of things can come in to play in that area. I know you have another thread and Bang asked for more specifics, so to get a definite answer would need to know more about your setup and such.....

 

[jw1977]

The canopy doens't have a top or a back. THe thing i'm worried about in my room is the ceiling height. I will only have a few inches of space. I'm worried that's not enough space to get rid of the heat.

 

[wangotango]

Well if heat is going to be a big issue, then you might want to consider looking into an eight-bulb T5 retrofit instead.

 

[meowzer]

How few is a few? LOL.....is there enough room to place a couple of those computer size fans? I see lots of people do that