New lighting - new technology????

[BCReefer]

I hear what everyone is saying about the lumens etc, but what about the cost savings on power consumption and then the water evaporation from the MH. I currently have 1 175W MH and 2 30W actinics. The problem that I find with MH is that with my 33G tanks which is 3’ long I believe that only the middle 12” gets the full intensity of the MH and the further you go out the lower the intensity.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

So I was thinking about putting 2 of the 65W or 95W bulbs in and take out the 175W MH.

Stircrazy – yes that looks exactly like what I saw.

Stephane – you indicate that you would need 3 bulbs to match the lumens. I am at about 50% understanding of how lumens work with our aquariums, I understand the wattage and Kelvin thing, but not so hot on the lumens. Can you explain to me, in laymans terms please, why the lumens are important.

Lastly, if you way some of the pro’s and con’s like less power consumption, no noisy fan needed, cheaper bulb, no ballast needed – but then it is fluorescent, less lumens??, new technology.

What if we went with the 90W lights which is supposedly comparable to 400W?

Thanks all for the information.