not completly true. going with a 4 bulb t5 id probably agree, 6-8 bulb fixtures have really good par. i have a par meter and have tested lots of lights and my 8 bulb tek fixture puts out better power at 27"down that most 250w halides ive tested by quite alot.

since your tank is 36" and only 21" high id say the a 6 bulb in either the tek or compact usa would allow you to keep almost anything you want, some sps probably would need to be in the upper 12" but most would be fine id think. a 4 bulb might not cut it for sps but lps and softies would be no problem.


im quite shure the compact usa lights with 4 and 6 bulbs have individual reflectors while the 8 bulb and the glo lights have 1 large relfector. you definatly want individual reflectors, imo the glo lights are junk as far as power goes thier cheep so people buy them and will defend them to the grave. i didnt even keep the 2 bulb glo light i bought on my qt tank made me crazy everytime id look at the tank
the 8 bulb compact usa with 1 reflector tested about 40% less power than my tek light with the same bulbs just for a comparison on how much reflectors matter

WHAT!? Hardly. I would argue the Tek fixtures fit somewhere between bottom of the barrel and mid range - hardly "one of the best". Mid range would be something like an ATI Sunpower which has active cooling with an acrylic shield in place. One of the best (upper range) would be something like maybe an Aquactinics Constellation and then ATI Powermodule, Fauna Marin Star Fire, Sfiligoi Stealth,.

Recommendations like this are why T5s get slagged more than they deserve - people recommend low end fixtures as if they are high end and then consumers end up complaining about staining of their reflectors, poor PAR output (when it actually gets measured), rapid lamp degradation, etc.

Read this thread from this page on for more information about choosing a quality T5 fixture: http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthr...t=50915&page=3

The ATI fixtures are very sexy looking! Are they available in Canada?

Announced last night on our Saskatoon and area reef board was that The Reef Shoppe in Lloydminster would be carrying Aquaticlife T5HO fixtures! You should check them out, the owner is a stellar reef nut :)

As far as I know the only retailers are in the US. Progressive Reef can special order them but they simply purchase them from Reef Geek at a lowered price and then sell them to the customer.

And this is part of the problem with T5 fixture recommendations in Canada. Aside from Fauna Marin and Sfiligoi (basically the two most expensive fixtures you can purchase), none of the better fixtures are retailed in Canada. As a consequence you see people simply recommending the best thing readily available in Canada (Sunlight Supply Tek fixtures) but they're recommending low-level fixtures as if they're good quality. Unfortunately our dollar is so weak right now it's hard to justify purchasing from US retailers but if you want a good T5 fixture you basically have to either buck up for the Fauna Marin or Sfiligoi, or purchase a less expensive fixture in the US.

Those AquaticLife fixtures don't have active cooling as far as I can tell.

As far as PAR goes, Tek is one of the better brands (I did mean to say better, not best...oops). An Sfiligoi (or any of the others you listed) doesn't put out any higher PAR reading than a Tek. Sure you get all the fancy schamncy fans and dimmers n shizz, but that doesn't exactly make your corals grow any better.

Have you looked at the aquactinics fixtures? I got mine from Golds in Calgary and love it.

Are you kidding? That is so patently false it's actually comical.

Those "other" fixtures put out 30% more PAR (and this has been confirmed by several independent readings - not based on manufacturers claims) than a Tek and this is almost directly attributable to the "fancy schamncy[sic] fans" that provide active cooling to run the lamps at optimal temperature (in addition to superior ballasts and reflectors).

Ignorance is really leading to some poor recommendations and translation of information on this site lately . . .

Ive read as well that Tek fixtures do put out alot less par then the fixtures mentioned already. Active cooling does play a large role in PAR levels as well....

Check out Grims thread on RC. He's done alot of testing and confirmed by others as well.