Rethinking Lighting Setup - Upgrade?

T

tamu

Background details:
* Tank - 140g 48in long
* Lighting - Coralife Aqualight Pro 2x250W HQI + 2x96W CF + 4x1W LED

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The one thing that I have decided to do is replace the ballasts with 250W Icecap ballasts. These will run cooler, hopefully burn the bulb better and save a lot of space which is at a premium where the ballasts are located.

Questions:
Would it be beneficial to change to PFO or Icecap pendants? I don't have much background info about the Coralife unit I have. It is what came with the tank setup. Personally, I would think the PFO or Icecap pendant would do a better job at reflecting more light back into the tank. Also, the Coralife HQI bulbs are parallel to the back of the tank. My tank is only 48 inches long, but would it be more beneficial if the bulbs were perpendicular to the back of the tank where the spectrum was going more to the sides than front to back?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
is that the fixture you have and you are wondering if you change the ballasts if things will improve? if so, then more than likely, yes. ballast definately make a difference so you could potentially get better results. and then i guess you are wonnderinng if you get rid of it and get new pendants if that will help? and if so, then definately yes. reflectors can make a huge difference and i bet you would get even better results by only doing this than change the ballasts even.
 
Thanks Wes!

Yes, that is the unit I have.
I'm for sure going to get new ballasts. The reason I ask about changing to pendants is that in order to use electronic ballasts on this light fixture, I have to open it up and bypass the igniter for each light. I would rather not chop up the wiring inside (for selling purposes) if some time in the near future I decided to get pendants.

I just wanted to check on how big of a difference people would think if I upgraded to newer pendants. The Coralife housing is only 2-3 inches deep, so in my mind the ability to reflect light couldn't be that great. The Icecap and PFO pendants are roughly 4.5-5. I'm not an expert in the matter that is why I'm wanting opinions.
 
ok, im on board now. if you have the space, get the best pendants you can. better reflectors and better ballasts can give you easily 2-fold the light output. they have even shown that if you use 400 watt fixtures, if you upgrade to better fixtures and ballasts you can get the same output from 250's. what kind of tank do you have, size and stand/canopy etc...
 
The tank is 48x24x29 (lxwxh)

My limitation is my canopy. There is not a lot of space. The max height I can probably go with on a pendant is one that is about 5 inches tall. It will take some head scraching to come up with a mounting solution, but it should work no problem.

If I did this, I would also lose my actinic power compacts. (my morning and evening lights) I do have an Icecap 660 that is not getting any use that I could use to run vhos I guess.
 
Looking at Sanjay's results, the bulb can also play a factor. Some bulbs do better on tar ballasts vs an electronic ballast.

Yes a pendant can give better results but you will probably be using a SE bulb instead of your current DE bulbs. Most of the pendants I see for DE bulbs aren't much bigger than what is in your current fixture. You also have to look at your setup and decide if going to pendants will cause you to loose your actinics. My old fixture had 2 small 32watt PC's in the middle of the hood and I really didn't like the look of the tank after the halides went off. I recently got a new fixture that has 2 250watt DE bulbs but I'm also running 4 T5's which I really like the way they light the tank up after the halides go off.
 
@Opus wrote:
Looking at Sanjay's results said:
I wanted to use DE bulbs (12k reeflux - currently using), that was the big question was if the pendant for a DE would make a significant impact? going from say a 2 inch depth to say 5 inch pendant depth.

I think that I could still supplement with T5s.
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Have you tried the Phoenix 14k bulbs? I ran the Reeflux 12k's for over a year because of all the rave reviews I saw but I really didn't like them. I didn't think the color in my acros was that great and my growth slowed down. I switched to the Phoenix bulbs and my color is slowly going in the direction I want plus the growth has picked up some.
 
@Opus wrote:
Have you tried the Phoenix 14k bulbs? I ran the Reeflux 12k's for over a year because of all the rave reviews I saw but I really didn't like them. I didn't think the color in my acros was that great and my growth slowed down. I switched to the Phoenix bulbs and my color is slowly going in the direction I want plus the growth has picked up some. said:
I haven't tried them, but am open to anything. I just want to try and get a setup that will give me the best light output in the area I have to work with in the canopy. Either the current built in reflector or Icecap HQI Pendants....
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If you have the room then I would go with pendants. Lumenmax has some new DE pendants coming out that should be really nice. Premium Aquatics has them listed as coming soon. I would go with pendants but I wouldn't have a way to run T5's since I don't have a hood.
 
I have 2 actinic, 1 blue+ and 1 pro color. I didn''t really like the pro color at first but either it changed colors some or I got used to it because I like the look of my tank now.
 
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