looking @ geting new lights

[jon56048]

I have a 75 gallon reef ready tank I am setting up and I want to buy new light for it.I plan on making it a reef aquarium. I want hard and soft corals ect. Could you please give me your opinions on these lights I was looking at buying.
Current Nova Extreme 48" t5 Fixture
8 Bulb
or
8 Bulb 48" Tek Light T5 Fixture

 

[wangotango]

Go with the TEK, but you could probably get away with a six-bulb.
-Justin

 

[alohami]

It's really a matter of weighing the pros and the cons of what will work for you, but I'll mention some points to consider about each one.
The Nova is a nice fixture, and there are a lot of people that are happy with it. However, it does not have true individual reflectors; it has one reflector that is shaped around each bulb. It comes with bulbs, but they are the Current brand. I've heard that some aren't happy with the color they are getting and end up swapping the bulbs out for better quality and different colored bulbs. The plus side there is you can be off and running with the bulbs it comes with, and then just change them out if you want to later. The Nova comes with the splash guard and mounting legs. I've always had good luck with Current fixtures (MH and PC), and for the money I think it's a really nice fixture.
On to the Tek, I think it's a better quality fixture, and you will get more light output from a Tek as compared to a Nova. It does not usually come with the bulbs so you are able to purchase quality bulbs in whatever brand and color color configuration you want, but you'll be looking at around $175 for bulbs in addition to the fixture. The real downside to the Tek is that you usually have to buy the splash guard and mounting legs separate, if you so desire, and that adds quite a bit to the price.
If price is a big consideration, the Nova will probably be the way to go. It's a nice fixture at a reasonable price. If you have a little more spending room, you may want to step up to the Tek.

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by AlohaMI
http:///forum/post/2697395
However, it does not have true individual reflectors; it has one reflector that is shaped around each bulb.
the Nova Extreme doesn't even have that just one giant reflector. The nova extreme "pro" has the invidually "contoured" reflectors and is a 6 bulb fixture which at $80 cheaper virtually makes the regular nova extreme obsolete.
lets look at it:
TEK 8 bulb system can he had for about $420. Once you add bulbs, legs and plexiglass sheild this fixture actually cost over $625 out the door. Pro's are you can keep anything. cons are its not fanned cooled, expensive and most importantly OVERKILL for a 75g tank. You can keep anything with 6 bulbs (actually 4) so there is no real reason to opt for the 8 bulb system.
TEK 6 bulb system at about $390 isn't much different in price until you factor in bulbs and cost to operate. With bulbs it can be had for about $550. Pro's are you can keep anything, will be cooler, cheaper and cheaper to operate than the 8 bulb tek with no real drawbacks, has more bulbs than the aquactinics below but cost less out the door. Only real con is its not fan cooled. that doesn't really bother everybody but many feel the bulbs would run more efficiently if it were.
Since the fixture your looking at is going to grand total at over $600 another great (probably best) option is the Aquactinic TX5 5 bulb T5 fixture. this fixture will cost you about $490. Pro's are can keep anything, fan cooled and splash sheild included, runs cooler than TEKs, individual reflectors many feel are better than TEKs (or at least just as good), 5 bulbs are cheaper than buying 6 but still enough to play with the coloring. cons: doesn't come with bulbs. with bulbs your looking at $600 out the door
Nova Extreme "Pro" performs better than the extreme even with two fewer bulbs and is significantly cheaper at $380 making the regular 8 bulb nova extreme just about irrelevant to buy now. Pro's of the pro are capable of keeping anything (some have said better quality bulbs may be required for this), $380 is the out the door and ready to go price, even if you replace the bulbs with quality bulbs of your liking it come out cheaper at $500 than other options. cons are the individually contoured reflector is still not on the level of the aquactinic or TEK true individual reflectors and like the reflectors the bulbs arent the best there is to be had.
there is also a 4 bulb giesmann that will be effective as well for $500 with high quality giesmann bulbs included ($570 with legs) but I'm done here. You REALLY could keep anything in a standard 75g with a quality 4 bulb fixture, the extra bulbs will be more for manipulating the color than an actual requirement.

 

[alohami]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/2697440
the Nova Extreme doesn't even have that just one giant reflector. The nova extreme "pro" has the invidually "contoured" reflectors and is a 6 bulb fixture which at $80 cheaper virtually makes the regular nova extreme obsolete.
That's what I meant, but I guess I didn't explain it well. It is one piece of metal, but it is bent and shaped around each bulb. I was going to mention the Aquactinic fixture too. It's what I plan to go with when I save up enough pennies. By the time you pay for the extras with the TEK, you can get an Aquactinic.

 

[wangotango]

Well, if you don't mind spending the extra coin jump on the Aquactinics TX5. I'm running it on my 55 and could not be happier. Probably on the edge of overkill for me but should be a good choice for you. Output is probably better than the six bulb TEK too.
-Justin

 

[jon56048]

if I go with Aquactinic or tek 4 bulb t5 can I keep clams or any kind of coral I am looking to do coral down the road and i don't wanna be buy a nother light
and one last thing is where a good please to get Aquactinic light and from what I am ready don't go with the Nova Extreme right

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by jon56048
http:///forum/post/2697913
if I go with Aquactinic or tek 4 bulb t5 can I keep clams or any kind of coral I am looking to do coral down the road and i don't wanna be buy a nother light
and one last thing is where a good please to get Aquactinic light and from what I am ready don't go with the Nova Extreme right
with the right bulb combo 4x54w bulbs put out the same PAR as an average 14K 250w MH set up down to at least 18" (a 75g is 20" deep if I remember). I havent really seen any testing for more than 18" but the point is with a 4 bulb kit and good bulbs you'll be able to keep anything you can keep with a 250w metal halide. Needless to say the aquactinics can keep anything. Premium aquatics and Aquacave are two places I know of and shop that carry aquactinics (and TEK).

 

[mr_x]

i like the nova extreme pro. i have a 3' version over my frag tank and it's working well.
i don't agree with being able to keep sps under a 4 bulb fixture in a 75 gallon tank though, unless you keep them way up top.
if you never want to buy another fixture, i'd go with atleast 6 bulbs.
can you post the link to that 4 bulb vs 250 watt halides comparison stanlalee,
or pm it to me?

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2698158
i like the nova extreme pro. i have a 3' version over my frag tank and it's working well.
i don't agree with being able to keep sps under a 4 bulb fixture in a 75 gallon tank though, unless you keep them way up top.
if you never want to buy another fixture, i'd go with atleast 6 bulbs.
can you post the link to that 4 bulb vs 250 watt halides comparison stanlalee,
or pm it to me?
I'll try to find some of those comparisons (there are several on that other famous discussion site).
I dont see your rational for being "way up top". 18" of water is 18" of water and 4 tubes of T5's across a tank is 4 tubes of T5s across a tank. You can keep anything under 4 tubes of "quality" T5 bulbs and reflectors whether it be four 24" 24w tubes over a 24" tank (96w which would have more PAR than a 70w halide over a standard 24" 10g for example), four 36" 39w tubes over a 36" tank (156w which would perform favorable to a 150w halide over a 30g) or four 48" 54w tubes over a 48" tank (which testing has shown to give virtually the same readings as a 250w halide in the tank even though there is less wattage). If there was going to be a deficiency it would be front to back coverage not depth. I dont see that being an issue because even 6 bulbs of T5 with reflectors is only about 12" wide (six inches short of a 75g) and the 5 bulb aquactinic fixture is only 9.5" wide. The reflectors must be distributing light pretty good laterally
Virtually all the testing done has been 4 or 5 tubes of T5 (4x54w) vs a 250w because they are closest in wattage and 250w halides are the most popular halide. 4 tubes have been shown to be the closest equivalent in PAR under water down to 18". 5 bulbs of T5 (270w) just plain outperforms 250w of halides (as you'd expect, its the whole premises behind using T5, same performance with less energy). based on testing 4 tubes has enough lighting power to keep anything underneath it you could keep with a 250w halide down to 18". anything more than that provides more PAR than 250w halides and is just cushion, to play with bulb coloring or for faster growth. You could add 15 T5 bulbs and thats not going to help them penetrate deeper, they arent a point source light like a halide, the light is spread equally across the tube (a 54w T5 is more powerful than a 39w T5 because its longer. at any given point they are about the same which is why I say 4 tubes of T5 is four tubes of T5) so they wont go deeper in the way a 400w halide will penetrate much deeper than a 250w halide. 75g is only 20" deep (nobody is keeping high demand SPS down there). In reality a 250w halide only covers 2ft effectively while 216w of T5 tubes provide equal par for the full 4ft so you would need two 250w halides on a 75g to give the same uniform PAR as 4 T5 tubes.
what T5 cant do is a) look better than Halide and LEDs and b) offer an equivalent to a 400w halide for penetration when more than 18" of good PAR is needed.

 

[texasmetal]

I have a nova extreme T-5 4x54 watt fixture on my 75 and I can keep most anything EXCEPT the really demanding SPS. If I had the 8 bulb version I have no doubt I could keep anything. If you're keeping softies though you probably aren't going to keep a lot of SPS.
The Nova Extreme Pro has individual reflectors, and it's a considerably cheaper than the TEK fixture.

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/2698252
I'll try to find some of those comparisons (there are several on that other famous discussion site).
I havent found the bulb number and kelvin to make direct comparisons we've been talking useful but there are quite a few of these type of test floating around
8 bulb TEK (red) vs 150w x 2HQI/96x2pc combo (black)

keeping in mind HQI ballast overdrive 250w bulbs to over 300w and the T5 set up isn't using one true day bulb