lighting for my 50???
 

because these lightss im about to ask about are notsold by any vender here (cause im a cheap bastard) they will be known as light option Olga and light option dorthy.

we will start with option dorthy. dorthy measures 25 x 16 x 3-6(awaiting final measurement) and is a 3 piece unit. she sports 1 150w mh and 4 24w t5 lights 2blue actinic and two white or 4 blue whatever you pick. now dorthy may be easy to keep cool under the hood with no moonlights but i can build some if needed and costs 50 dollars more than olga

olga is not a looker by any means and measures 30 x 15 x 3 and is a single unit comes with 1 250w mh 2 pc bulbs blue actinic. moonlights built in she has been known to get a little hot but reviewed and ppl have seemed to like her

the box these twooptions will shed thier light over is 36 x 18 x 20. now i have used t5's only in my 90 g so very green with mh. so im looking for opinions on this matter i will be keeping various corals may even have a bit of sps. but i dont want to cook them or the fish either. if anyone iswillingto give feedback on which of these two ladies i should mount on my tank i would be greatly appreciative.

thanks in advance
jeff

wow i thought id get alot more input from you guys on this site... mods can remove this thread if you wish

I could comment on you mounting some hypothetical ladeez but I'm afraid I didn't have anything else constructive to add. I'd just do everything retrofit if it were me. Well actually I just DID do that. You can then make it look nice yourself.

hmmm
 

Is there any warranty with these fixtures,in my past expierience with lights you get what you pay for,if it's cheap then it probably is.

there is warranty on both

Go with Olga, retrofit her a bit to make her pretty and make sure you have ways to keep her cool.

i am leaning toward olga a bit i can always add t5's down the road replacing the pc bulbs. it is a one piece unit id have no fear of it coming apart when cleaning. i have to change my hood design but since its not built yet i should be ok.. it comes with a fan system but i will add more fans directed at light and water.

the wording wasnt meant to offend i was just trying to be creative as not to step on any venders toes. i thought about retrofitting everything and may do so in the future. this is the only aspect of this build that i wont be building for fear of stray voltage,, especially with it being in a daycare environment.

Olga o....Odessea? or whatever the eff it's called?
I used to run a 48" over the 90 gallon....worked fine for what I needed it to do. Didn't over heat with the fans running...mind you, it was in a basement and the tank was open top..

yes you are correct. i had a odysea 48" 4 bulb for my 90 it worked ok but upgraded to a 6 bulb catalina i think and i am much happier. i just figured i would try the mh fixture rather than the t5's worse come to worse i can gut it and build a different setup. either wich way i dont think the kids will complian as much as i will in the end.

Hey no offense taken I try and read something into everything. Make's things more fun =)

How would retrofit be a risk for stray current if done properly? Maybe I'm missing something but my setup is certainly very safe...

electrical current and i are very old friends... you know you got zapped hard when your 5 feet from where you once where. i just dont trust myself building it as of yet. i can wire a home i can wire alarm systems (thus how i got zapped thanks to a customers faulty panel) but setting water under my work..that i need to think about.

your tank and lights are excellent and have great color. i figured they where bought lights. you did a great job. i think ill just take baby steps for the light building. keep in mind i havent even been reefing for a year yet. besides this tank is a daycare right off. if i have to build or get new lights down the road ill write that off as well..

On my 90 I ran 2x150W Metal Halides and 4x65W PC...worked good. I made sure to leave lots of room for the ballasts to "breathe" and kept the top of the fixture clear too....The newer models don't seem to have the heating issues that the old ones did/do

First of all, I think it's a load of s*** it we have to tip toe around these parts and not discuss certain things because certain vendors don't sell those products or it's being sold by a competitor. Granted, they do support the forums but we are all here to discuss the hobby and help each other out, not discuss what the vendors are selling. Sorry, I've seen it happen a few times around here are it bugs the hell out of me... Sorry, needed to vent.

About your lights... Personally I'd go with the Odyssea (though I can't say for sure without knowing what dorothy is); I considered this same unit at one point. The 250W will give you more options down the road with what you can keep and the power compacts actually aren't all that bad if you're just supplimenting a halide (which can even be avoided if you want to use a high colour temperature bulb). My Coralife Aqualight Pro (not bought from any of the vendors here) uses this same sort of MH/PC set-up and it's stellar.

Also, there are some tricks you can use to make an Odyssea cool. Google 'em or we can discuss them here.

not to sure about the vender policies here i just figured id be safe and not if i could kinda thing. dorthy islike a pendant with dual t5's clipped on by a strapmetal on each side which makes me nervous.

i think ive made my decition to go with olga mainly cause of the 250mh vs 150. as well they have a refugium light i like.

but thank you i will google thecoling methods and do thank you all for the input i was just surprised earlier that noone had any input usually tons of opinions :wink: i remember certain seahorse discussions earlier this year.

This isn't the Fishneedit fixture is it? If it is, they have a pretty snazzy 250W as well for a decent price.

i didnt see that just the combo with t5 is 150w so obviously yesitis that oneas well.

i feel likei just played charades.

Stay away from MH, it's archaic in todays systems, too hot, uses too much power, too bulky...T5s will suffice 90% of the situations. But hey what the hell do I know....lol ....If you electricute my son " I kill you"

regretfully electricution isnt one of our prefered methods we tickle them to death. so your son will be safe lol... maybe. as you know i over think my safety precautions soooo.. :razz:

Be careful with writeoffs like that. My wife had a dayhome and they do look into things like that and I recall at the time it wasn't 'recommended' by an accountant friend to even go there (tanks).

And people are always discussing products not sold by our vendors. I think you just don't want to discuss specific vendors themselves that don't sponsor.

really? great, now I'm living in the stone ages of reefing.. :sad:

its not a tank its an educational learning station of aquatic life. we will even have videos of finding nemo and reading material to back up the learning process..???

never hurts to try