FOR my tank : T5? Comppact FL, Halides???

[marinerules]

I have a 240 gallon aquarium with xenia , star polyps and a few other softy corals, oh , and alvepora,


right now I have
256 watts of compact flourescent bulbs
and 80 watts of regular t-12 flourescent bulbs




what would be my best combo to really let my xenia thrive

I was thinking t-5, mayb e, since I can get a 48 inch long light with 8 54 watt bulbs, thats 432 watts of light !! but is it enough to get to the bottom of my 240 , its a standard 8x2x2 tank


Also , I have 2 250 watt metal halides , but I dont really like the way Metal Halides look , or at least not my 20k bulbs


so for my tank , opinions on my best lighting combo ?

based on my corals, tank, cost, and brightness,

what is the best ? ? ?





im not even sure on the t5 bulbs, but I thought if it I got the 48 inch 8 bulbs fixture, that it may have several switches where I can have just certain colors , or different bulbs on , or all of them ????

[xtrstangx]

4 250w SE MH... I would do XM 10K or Reeflux 10K's, preferably in a nice pendant like a Lumenarc/Lumenmax or even a Reef Optix I.

Then supplement it with 4 4' URI Actinics run on an Icecap e-ballast.

[horkn]

if your tank does fine on CF, your tank will do a lot better on t5ho with proper reflectors.. for the most part. some shrooms dont liek t5ho light, others do great under them.. but xenia loves a lot of light, so the t5ho will do the trick.

yeah the tek lights have separate switches, but less money would be invested if you buy retrofits

[DaveG99]

You also have to consider that halide bulbs need to be changed atleast once a year or even every six months. The t5's are supposed to last 2 years. T5's are pretty cheap too. My friend has the 8 54watt t5's on his 30" deep 220 gallon at does a great job. I am going to go the t5 route with my 125 gallon. And I almost forgot the heat is a huge factor. Halides run much hotter than t5's.

[marinerules]

yeah , I like the look of the t5s , ive only seen them at one guys house and his tank WAS SUPER SUPER BRIGHT,


the 48 inch long 8 bulbs fixture was $412 ,
I dont know how much better it would be if I built it myself, however , I like the looks of the prebuilt ones, it looks much better than some of the stuff I can CREATE Lol

[marinerules]

I was just looking and WHY DOES these fixtures weigh so much

im looking at the one with 8 bulbs and its like 75 lbs,

im not sure if my two crossbraces in the center o fmy tank will hold that up , I dont want my tank to explode and hanging them from the celing is out of the question , Dad will not have it ,


or are they specifiying the shipping weight ?

http://www.globeaqua.com/teklight_lighting.html

[xtrstangx]

Hang it from a canopy that is resting on the top of the tank is your best bet.

[marinerules]

i just noticed on the same site that they have the nova extreme t5 fixture to

and its about the same price and includes the bulbs , where as the tek fixtures doesnt, also , the nova extreme has moonlights


I wonder why there is such a huge price difference in the two

[horkn]

the nova does not have individual reflectors. it has a single parabolic reflector for all the bulbs