looking for a light for my 125 ? can someone help

[Finz]

its a 125 gallon tank. going to be reef mainly sps's.

im debating between leds or metal halide/t5/moonlight fixture .

im looking at buying this http://premiumaquatics.com/store/me...ct_Code=GM-40.281.833&Category_Code=Giesemann


or go with a pacific sun led lighting system .


do you guys think i should do metal halides or go with the led system .

 

[THEDLO]

if u can get LED do it....the heat MH causes...its such a pain. pros are LEDs last much much longer, and run MUCH cooler, and u way less power. T5 are ok.....SPS want grow as fast under those.

 

[pauliwalnuts]

I'm guessing that your tank is six foot long. Wow is that a pricie fixture (damm them Germans). Do you have a hood over your tank ?

 

[Finz]

i do not have a hood . do leds produce as much power as a metal halide ? and what happens down the road when they start to burn out the leds ? how will they be replaced?

 

[THEDLO]

i do not have a hood . do leds produce as much power as a metal halide ? and what happens down the road when they start to burn out the leds ? how will they be replaced?

they can be replaced, and yes. search leds ull find a lot of info here. i am by no means an expert on them. i just think that if ur in the market for lights id go LEDs

 

[Finz]

why leds over halides thedlo

 

[THEDLO]

cause of the amount of power MH need they are like the gas guzzlers of the aquarium world, and the produce a ton a heat. my heat troubles are caused by my lights not the weather. and with leds u dont really have to worry about that.

 

[Finz]

chiller wouldnt solve the problem ? im getting mixed reviews about leds and halides that halides reach more depths of the tank

 

[THEDLO]

yea but thats just adding more to ur power consumption, unless that doesn't matter then MH is for u.

 

[Brando457]

I have a 6 foot fixture for sale it's 150 watt de x 3 and 4 96watt pc actinic bulbs. I have the link to it on my pc, bulbs are 3 months old and are 2x20k left and right and one 14k in the middle. The actinics need replacing though.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Finz]

what kind of fixture is it ?

 

[Brando457]

Aqualight Pro HQI/Compact Fluorescent/Lunar Light Fixture

$999.99 brand new, open to a reasonable offer.

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+8075+12113&pcatid=12113&r=306


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[aznt1217]

Not sure what there is to think about. I would go LED's without question.

Is cost an issue?

Having had all the types of lighting you can imagine, LED's are the best. The only downside of course is cost.

I want to cut down on equipment and a chiller is definitely a turn off for me itself. The heat in your house, the extra noise, and the exhaust is already a pain I don't want to deal with.

Metal Halides also produce a lot of heat and makes your place warmer. It costs more to run and you have to replace bulbs every 6 months or so depending on usage.

 

[Finz]

Not sure what there is to think about. I would go LED's without question.

Is cost an issue?

Having had all the types of lighting you can imagine, LED's are the best. The only downside of course is cost.

I want to cut down on equipment and a chiller is definitely a turn off for me itself. The heat in your house, the extra noise, and the exhaust is already a pain I don't want to deal with.

Metal Halides also produce a lot of heat and makes your place warmer. It costs more to run and you have to replace bulbs every 6 months or so depending on usage.

true .. but what about when they start burning out and does the leds lights reach the bottom of the tank .. it seems that halides reach more depth of the tank then leds i keep getting mixed reveiws about them .

:banghead:

 

[Finz]

lets say if i was to decide to go with LED's .. what is a good quality brand ?

 

[aznt1217]

There's so many different applications out there and I have no idea which ones you are reading about. It will depend on what LEDs ar used and more importantly what optics.

PAR readings at this point are the same. I have no idea what reef set up you are going for and can't point you in any direction specifically. But start looking at some brands: Pacificsun, Bluemoon aquatics, Maxspect, etc.