Some lighting advice

[Sea Turtle]

I have been thinking of upgrading my lighting on my tank. I currently have a coralife 48" with 2-15- watt 14K halides and 2-98 watt blue actinics with fan. I like the neat professional look as it is in my livingroom. However, I feel as if the lighting strenth is not enough for an sps 75 gallon tank. I really would like to put a minimum of 2-250 watt metal halides with T-5's and a maximum of 2-400 watt metal halides 20K. Could anyone recomend a good unit that will do that but won't cost me $2,000+. I really like the Sfiligoi light fixture's with 2 SE 400W bulbs and T5s but I would have to sell my first born to buy one. Any recomendations?

 

[fungia]

i like my aquamedic spacelight. it is 2x250w and 2 t5 actinics. i got it on sale for 750, expensive but very nice quality. it is heavy tho so be careful.

 

[Sea Turtle]

i like my aquamedic spacelight. it is 2x250w and 2 t5 actinics. i got it on sale for 750, expensive but very nice quality. it is heavy tho so be careful.

Yup, that one looks nice. Does that have a fan built into it?

Question is, is it worth it for me to go through all that to upgrade from 2 X 150's to 2 X 250's or should I go to the 400's?

 

[Sea Turtle]

Does anyone know anything about the Giesemann NEP-TUNE Pro 2x250W HQI 2x54W T5 Fixture?

http://www.marinedepot.com/48_inch_Gies ... MT-vi.html

 

[Len]

My friend has a Giesemann and it's really well made.

I had a Spacelight too, and it did not have a fan. I'd say the Giesemann and AB are about the same in terms of quality (and design too). The one thing that I don't like about these designs is the ballast aren't remote; they're built into the fixture. This is why they are so heavy.

 

[Len]

Actually, it seems the newer spacelights have remote ballasts, so that's a plus. But to complicate your decision, I think they're still magnetic ballasts whereas Giesemanns are electronic now.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Actually, it seems the newer spacelights have remote ballasts, so that's a plus. But to complicate your decision, I think they're still magnetic ballasts whereas Giesemanns are electronic now.

So the Giesemanns do have seperate ballasts? In other words, the ballasts can go under the tank in the cabinet?

 

[Sea Turtle]

the coralife that I have has two seprate ballasts that I can keep under the tank. The cords are fixed (they do not seperate) but at least their not in the fixture itself.

 

[Anonymous]

Let me ask you this, are your corals growing ok? not dying? If so no need to change the light IMO.

If you do change, and you like the look of your fixture, it is possible you can gut the thing and cram some retroparts in there, the 150w bulbs can be swapped out with 250w bulbs you simply need to make the spacing on the contacts a bit further, but the reflector should be good the same, and your T5s can fit inside as well possibly with some ice cap reflectors. That is assuming you don't want to sell the unit to pay against your new one

 

[Sea Turtle]

Let me ask you this, are your corals growing ok? not dying? If so no need to change the light IMO.

If you do change, and you like the look of your fixture, it is possible you can gut the thing and cram some retroparts in there, the 150w bulbs can be swapped out with 250w bulbs you simply need to make the spacing on the contacts a bit further, but the reflector should be good the same, and your T5s can fit inside as well possibly with some ice cap reflectors. That is assuming you don't want to sell the unit to pay against your new one

Will I need new ballasts or will the 150's work for 250's?

 

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, you'll need new ballasts most likely to run T5s instead of PC bulbs as well.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Absolutely, you'll need new ballasts most likely to run T5s instead of PC bulbs as well.

But what if I keep the blue actinics and bag the t-5 idea.Will I still need new ballasts to increas from 150 to 250?

 

[Sea Turtle]

I have been having some difficulty locating where I can buy a 48" Giesemann 2 X 400. I know they exist becasue I have seen them. Can anyone help me with this? I really think that I have decided I like this unit.

 

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, you'll need new ballasts most likely to run T5s instead of PC bulbs as well.

But what if I keep the blue actinics and bag the t-5 idea.Will I still need new ballasts to increas from 150 to 250?

Yup, whenever you change the power of halides you'll need a new ballast.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I think that option is out.

 

[Anonymous]

The lets go back to the original question, are your corals growing ok?

I mean you only say "You feel the strength isn't there" let your corals do the talking for you. IMO 150W is plenty fine for most applications on smaller tanks, no need to go overkill with 400w bulbs, DE bulbs already have such a poor spread compared to some SE bulb reflectors that regardless of what you upgrade to (if you do) you'll have parts with a lot of bright light and parts with kind of mediocre light.

 

[Sea Turtle]

The lets go back to the original question, are your corals growing ok?

I mean you only say "You feel the strength isn't there" let your corals do the talking for you. IMO 150W is plenty fine for most applications on smaller tanks, no need to go overkill with 400w bulbs, DE bulbs already have such a poor spread compared to some SE bulb reflectors that regardless of what you upgrade to (if you do) you'll have parts with a lot of bright light and parts with kind of mediocre light.

I wouldn;t say that they are growing very quickly at all. Also, I am feeling as is I need more light to get those more vivid colors I am after. If the corals are not in the top 1/3 of the tank they hardly grow at all.

 

[Sea Turtle]

BELIZE SUN HQI / T-5 Light Kits (48" / 908 watt kit) Includes 2-400W 14K HQI + 2-54W T5 + LED Moonlights

Anyone know anything about these brands? Here is a link: http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand. ... 05-6304-01

 

[trido]

400s over a 75G is way overkill IMO. I have three over my 210 which is 30" deep and I still question if I should have stuck with the 250s I had.

 

[Sea Turtle]

400s over a 75G is way overkill IMO. I have three over my 210 which is 30" deep and I still question if I should have stuck with the 250s I had.

Ok, I will keep that in mind. My wife will certenly like that as she sure does not like the the electric bill. I have to make it up to her every month once the bill comes....