New Lighting

[tarhull87]

Ok guys...
I have a 75g tank with 40W of NO light right now, pretty sad ain't it.
My options are:
384w's of PC retrofit from Hellolights
- 2 Actinic 03 96w
- 2 Daylight 96w
- $375
or
260W of PC coralife hood
- same light bulbs just 65w instead of 96w
- $215-ish
How many coral options/anemone options will I have with each, which one is worth it more?

 

[fishman9]

the more watts the better, you could keep polpys, zoo's and shrooms. if you can get MH's with those pc's you would be golden.

 

[reefraff]

Go with T5 instead. They blow away any other fluorescent lights and in the long run are less expensive to oporate.

 

[spmnarciso]

I'd go with a 4ft VHO retro kit. I love the color of the bulbs and they are fairly cheap to replace. Especially VHO actinics---great color.

 

[robchuck]

Originally posted by spmnarciso
I'd go with a 4ft VHO retro kit. I love the color of the bulbs and they are fairly cheap to replace. Especially VHO actinics---great color.
This would be a good solution to look into. A 4ft VHO retro kit (4x110W bulbs = 440W) can be had for around $200-$250, giving you more wattage than the PC kits mentioned, and plus, VHO bulbs are more pleasing to look at than PC bulbs.

 

[jauringer]

Go with T5 instead. They blow away any other fluorescent lights and in the long run are less expensive to oporate

I agree. This is the way to go.

 

[tarhull87]

Alrighty guys, thanks for the help.
However, I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a 2x175W Halide and 2x110 Actinic VHO retrofit kit that I got a great deal on ----. Bulbs include for 360 bucks.

 

[jauringer]

even better!!
congrats:cheer:

 

[hagfish]

I haven't really heard much about T5 lights before. I saw some lights on ---- that I thought were PC's, but it turns out they were T5 and I didn't know what that meant. Are they as good as PC's? Or maybe better? The ones I saw were very cheap compared to what I've seen for PC's.

 

[spmnarciso]

T5s are 1/2" in diameter, which means more bulbs can be added where space is limited. They are high output bulbs, similar to VHO, except some say that they put out more light. IMO they are expensive to maintain...more bulbs to replace. And not quite sure as to what kind of light the bulbs put out;whether they are as nice as VHOs.

 

[reefraff]

T5's are not all created equal. The SLS systems are High Output with good reflectors (huge advantage) while there are some NO systems around with cheasy reflectors that are likely not much better than PC. T5's are very energy efficient. When I set up my 125 I was running two mag 5 and one Mag 7 pumps and a 6x80 watt T5 lighting system overdriven by IceCap ballasts which supposedly drive the lamps at about 100 watts each. My power bill increase was less than 10 bucks a month. The lamps will go 18 to 24 months before needing to be changed, depending on the K rating. Pretty cheap to run once you get past the up front costs.
Will try to attach a pic of some corals under the lights. My camera doesn't pick up the colors, or at least I don't know how to make it pick up the colors quite as vivid as they are.