caseysimp7
Member
i am about to start my first salt water tank what are some good lights?
what are good lights for little mony
- Thread starter caseysimp7
- Start date
laredo300c
Member
if you plan to keep corals i would jump straight into t5...my tank has two years and i started with odysea compacts and if you look at my past posts, i was one that used to praise odysea, mainly because i had no base for comparison but after looking at t5 and mh....my odysea are junk...i will be upgrading to nova extreme t5 216w soon...
caseysimp7
Member
my friend said the same thing as you
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saltycrab
Guest
Metal Halides are great but since they produce a lot of heat many people run chillers to keep their temperatures in check. Those who don't run chillers run fans over their water surface to elevate evaporation which inherently cools the tank. Chillers are expensive and use a good deal of power. Too much evaporation can cause humidity issues in a room that is not ventilated and obviously without an auto top off system can be a PITA. Halides put out a lot of light though and the "shimmer" effect is nice.
I run T5s which run very cool and put out lots of light. My 156 watt fixture probably puts out more light than a 250 watt MH but I could be wrong. The bulbs also last for a long time (over a year). Bulbs are kind of expensive though. at $20 a piece I will be spending $80 to do a change. Since they last so much longer than MHs the equivalent cost may be inline. I say go with T5s. The main thing you should be basing your decision on is what type of coral (SPS requires a high amount of light, so do clams, soft corals and zoanthids don't require nearly as much light, I think LPS is some where in between) you want to keep.
I run T5s which run very cool and put out lots of light. My 156 watt fixture probably puts out more light than a 250 watt MH but I could be wrong. The bulbs also last for a long time (over a year). Bulbs are kind of expensive though. at $20 a piece I will be spending $80 to do a change. Since they last so much longer than MHs the equivalent cost may be inline. I say go with T5s. The main thing you should be basing your decision on is what type of coral (SPS requires a high amount of light, so do clams, soft corals and zoanthids don't require nearly as much light, I think LPS is some where in between) you want to keep.
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saltycrab
Guest
You can get good deals on light on e Bay, SWF.com, and the classifieds here. Buying a quality fixture new is pricy.
