Lighting Quandry: which is better? (POLL)

L

lacybiker2000

Hi, my tank is a 29 gal flatback 36" long x 12.5" wide x 16" deep. It has a HOB refugium made by CPR (23.5" x 14.5" x 3.5") which will have it's own light. The corals I have are mainly softies, shrooms, rics, zoas, kenya tree, gsp, a leather, and a couple of LPS, frogspawn and a hammer. The light fixture I have now is a 2x55w pc fixture (110 watts). I want to be able to support an anemone. The light fixture I am contemplating is a Nova (Current) High Output T5 fixture 78 watts. The tank being only 16" deep and I figure that the lights won't be all that far from the water.

What does everyone think about this? Which light fixture would you use, or would you wait for a better one to come along?
 
:shock: What type of anemone are you looking to keep? You should easily be able to keep a long tentacle, bubble, or plain carpet with your current lighting. No need to change lights if all you want is an anemone IMHO.
 
Hi,

First question wold be what type of anemone, some are more light demanding than others. Next question would be what bulbs are in the fixture, are they 2 daylight or one daylight and one actinic, are the bulbs new or old(you may have to buy new bulbs) I wouldn'tt think that 78Watts would be enough unless you had rockwork that allowed the nem to get much closet to the light, but I could be wrong. If you went with a 4 bulb setup I think it would be better overall as it will allow you to customize the bulbs to get the "look" you want, as well as provide adequate lighting for current and future "wants". Since I sold you the light fixture that you have now, my advice would be to buy for the future and not for the right now. You have been doing this long enough now and looked at enough tanks to know what you like,you should make your next lighting purchase with that in mind. :wink: :)

Cheers,
 
The nem would be a bubble tip or LTA. The bulbs in my current fixture are 50/50s. Not sure in the other fixture. Keeping in mind that the tank is only 12" wide, there are only so many lights/bulbs I can put over it. Ron, you are right about looking to the future. There is nothing wrong with the fixture I have now, I just want the best that I can arrange for my critters.
 
Consider the Tek fixtures or the ATI if you want to go real quality... they all have reflectors (which improves the output). Also consider going 4 bulb or 6... I am pretty sure both these fixtures have options to turn on 4 or 6 bulbs so you could have built in expandability.
 
Save up some money and get a T5 fixture. With it only being 12" wide you may have to stick to a 2 bulb set up. But if you were to get individual reflectors that would be great lighting for what you want. Don't compare wattage with the PC, just go T5 and don't look back.
 
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