lighting

Dive_dry · #1 11-14-2010, 04:53 AM

Hi all i am fairly new to the hobby and have a little bit of indeshion on lighting. Some very knowledgeable people say mh some say t5 and some say LED. all lights have there good and bad points. I am thinking of a LED t5 combo the led light i am thinking of using Aquray (aqua beam 1000 ) or the ecoxotic panorama led. controlled by the apex controller and if the aquaray cant be controlled with the apex it has its own controller. or mh t5 combo i just don't like the heat and the bulb life.The light will be for the new tank

present tank info 70g mixed reef rammora skimmer ehime canister filter poseban 150 one for gfo and one for carbon and two korilla power heads.

NEW TANK is going to be 90G mixed reef (dam tank bug gets you every time lol)
skimmer RPS 2000 Recirulating skimmer
sump/ refug. 30g
return pump mag 12
overflow cpr 100

reefwars · #2 11-14-2010, 05:26 AM

lighting depend on your tanks dimensions most importantly height in which it has to travel through water. also theres the asthetics part of it , you wont get the shimmer from t5 as you will from halides.alot of led fixtures do have a shimmer though. what you plan to have in your tank is also a big factor if you want a full blown sps reef youll need to research a bit more than you would for a lps/softie tank.

heating issues are def a factor with halides but there are ways around them while led have super long bulb life while some question there growth rate....

at the end of the day ask yourself what you dont want to deal with and what you want to have then see if it can be fit into your budget..

good luck

Dive_dry · #3 11-14-2010, 05:00 PM

thanks for the info reef wars. my 90 is 24" tall. The Aqua ray aqua beam claim to be comparable to 150w mh. so i was thinking of going with two led panels for a diy project and they are dim able so i can have the lights power up slowly and power down the same with moon lighting is my thought . I just haven't bin able to talk to anyone using led as they are new to the market and if they are anything like led dive lights i will be very impressed as my 8 cell c batterie light can penetrate in good viz 50-60' and poor viz 5'-10' but that is in summer with all the allege blooms and hid lights don't even work very well. oops got off topic a little.