Got new lights!!

After a long debate and serious hesitation I finally decided to retire my tried and true double ended metal halides (Phoenix 14K's powered by a PFO 250W HQI ballast) and VHO actinics (icecap 660 ballast) in exchange for an ATi setup. My old setup was just proven and provided great growth and coloration over a few years now with zero problems. The reasons for the swap were because:

• I needed new bulbs
• I wanted to reduce my electric bill to below $200 a month
• I wanted to keep the house cooler during the summer
• Reef geek (a major ATI distributor) is less than 2 miles away from me
• The technology has been proven
• I wanted to try something new

I went with an 8 x 39 W 36" Powermodule system. Initial observations are that the fixture looks great, the lights are deceivingly powerful and with the fans at 7.5w they are silent. I have the fixture 12" above the waterline and intend to lower 2" a time every 2 weeks until the fixture is at 6". Hopefully I don't toast all my SPS because my tank is literally packed with corals. I've also cut my photoperiod back significantly. The 2 dawn/dusk blue lamps run 14 hours a day while the remaining lights only run for 3 hours a day. I intend to ramp up the main lights an hour more every 2 weeks until I get to 6 hours a day.

The swap was done on April Fools. Let's hope this decision doesn't make a fool out of me.