lighting driving me crazy

[Galvan]

have a 75 gallon reef ready for 2 years with 5 animals and 5 corals to incude one clam. At this time have compact florescent at 216 watts.

I'm looking at two options the Nova Extreme HO T5 Aquarium Lighting Fixtures 8 bults @54W so 432 watts. And 2nd choice is the Current Professional Euro Look Orbit Power Compact Hooded System with 2 dual daylight and 2 dual Actinic total watts is 384.

I like the 384Watt because this gives me 5 watts per gallon which is about right. If I go with the 432 HO light I'm afarid this is too much light for my aquarium. I can not fine a T5 HO with about 350-380Watts, they just do not make them or I surely can not find them.

Can some one please help to make the best decision.

Regards,
Richard

 

[Anonymous]

do you know what kind of corals and clam is in there? If you aren't sure could you post pics?

 

[Nemo2007]

I have a 72 gallon Oceanic using the Nova T5 setup you mentioned. This is a new tank and it is still cycling. I am happy with the light output and don't think it is too much. I also own the other Current product you mentioned. It is still brand new and in the box so you can see I recently had the same dilemma you are facing. I did some research and found that the PAR rating which is an indicator on how well light penetrates water is suggested to be better with T5 lighting versus compact fluorescent lighting. That is why I’m using the T5 unit over the other one. I don’t think the watts per gallon is a crucial factor in choosing between the two because the numbers are so similar, 5.12 versus 5.76 for your tank.

I like Current products, and both are executed well concerning quality of build though the fan for the white lights could be quieter. The units appear to be in the same housing. However, if you’re leaning towards the T5 offering, consider this. Apparently those individuals who get the maximum PAR ratings from T5’s, those that rival metal halides, usually overdrive them with ice cap ballasts and use individual reflectors. There are other lighting fixtures out there that include these parts but not the Nova Extreme offering. It sadly has only one large reflector. I wonder if anyone out there sells upgrade reflectors safe to be used in the Nova. Anyway, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably look into a unit with all the key features. Someone from this forum may even be able to guide you towards one. With that being said, I got a great deal on the Nova unit from Petmountain.com. Though to be fair, the deal was so sweet because they were trying to beat the price offered by Aquamartonline.com who always includes shipping in their more than fair prices.

Either way, take it slow. Do as much research as you can ahead of time or you might end up with two light fixtures like me when one good choice would have sufficed. Both lights will be a significant boost from what you already have. What kind of clam flourished under those lights?

As an aside, the compact fluorescent unit did come with a wider variety of light spectrum than the T5 unit. I don’t know if there is any additional benefit from it. I hope you found this helpful.

 

[cindre2000]

Like Nemo said, you are not going to get the increadably powerful out put without at least individual reflectors. It also really helps if you overdrive the bulbs with an icecap ballast. I recently had to choose from the an icecap+individual reflector 4 bulb retro and a all in one 8 bulb strip (w/ bad reflectors and normal ballast) for my 120. I went with the icecap retro a am really happy with it.

But anyways, the main thing is if you go either route you will need to acclimate your corals anyways. Since your looking about the same price for bulbs, its really up to you.

 

[barjam]

Nothing you suggested was very good. A four bulb t5 setup with GOOD individual reflectors (aquatinics, icecap etc) will be much, much better than your other two suggestions.

You can even keep SPS (higher up) with that setup, believe it or not.