which light is best

techrider6

Member
I am looking two sets of lights.One is a 8x80 watts T5 and the other is pc lights 6x96 watts?They will be over a 150 gal reef.
thanks techrider62
 

jjlittle

Member
Welll I have a 150 gal reef and I first ran 4 - 72 in VHO did mainly soft corals I now run 3 -250 watt mh 20000 k w/ 2-72 in VHO and love it can have what ever and all looks great. So that would be my suggestion over the choices you've listed. Though both set ups listed are running about 600 watts which is not bad though mh lighting gives you a great look with the shimmer and you would be able to keep corals that need stronger lighting needs. Good luck!
 

shnabbles

Member
jjlittle the halides are so much nicer cause the difference in watts from your VHO to your MH's are 462 watts.. thats a big difference..
though 8x80 over 150 only equals out to be 4.26 watts per gallon so as jjlittle said you can probally keep softies..
Im looking at upgrading from 220 watt pc lighting to 8x54 T5 lighting over a 55... hopefully doubling the wattage will make a big difference!
 

reefraff

Active Member
With T5's the individual reflectors for each lamp are VERY important. 8 T5's with Sunlight Supply Tek reflectors would allow you to keep most anything in the tank. If you are looking at the e-bay fixtures with a single flat reflector and 8 lamps crammed in front of them it wouldn't be much better than the PC's. If that is the case you could keep most softies and LPS as long as you are careful to place the more light demanding critters up on the rocks.
 
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