Aquantics vs Sunlight Tek T5 fixture

[Joe Reefer]

Any reason as to why T5's? I would consider a MH/T5 combo fixture if your thinking of having a sps dominate tank.

[Phanman]

Just for long term replacement bulb cost, and electricity. I've been told that T5's will be fine for an sps dominated tank. Plus with 6-7 bulbs i should get enough light im hoping.

[fkshiu]

Doesn't the Aquactinics fixture use an Icecap 660 ballast? If so, that's a definite plus over the Workhorse ballasts that the Tek uses although it comes at the cost of somewhat higher electrical usage and shortened bulb life because of the overdriving.

Secondly, if the Aquactinics also uses Icecap SLR reflectors, they also have an advantage over the Tek reflectors.

Lastly, having an extra bulb could be a big difference if it's a good PAR-heavy German daylight bulb. If you are going to keep SPS mainly, then you'll want to wring every last bit of light you can get out of your fixture.

Good fans are a must for a T5HO system to be optimised as well.

[whosinpower]

I have the aquatinics constellation fixture - 7 t-5 bulbs that you were speaking of.

I faced the same sort of decision as you did - however, my tank is a 90 gallon. I wanted a fixture that would work on a 120 gallon if I chose to upgrade.

However, I decided to not have a canopy, and so the fans were important to me, as well as one extra bulb. The ballasts are overdriven, so keeping the heat down is important for the life of the bulb.

My fixture is not housed in a canopy, but hangs instead. I totally love it! It has three seperate switches with three seperate power cords. This enables quite a bit of flexibility in regards to lighting schedule - and is nice to be able to reduce lighting to acclimatize new occupants. I have each cord on its own timer - set it and forget it.

Can't say anything about sps corals - I'm just a newbie, and tank has only been up a couple of months, so I am slowly adding beginner type corals - no sps yet.

[Phanman]

Heat wont be an issue, i have two large fans built into the canopy, so the bulbs life shouldnt diminish from the heat.

So better ballast = better shades of light - aquactinics
better reflector - aquactinics
3 switches vs 2 for dusk dawn effect - aquactinics
price - Sunlight Tek 5

what to do, what to do..... wow this is a tough decision.

If there is anything else im missing please let me know.

[reptile guy]

don't forget tek lights come in 8 lamp as well not just 6 and for I'm sure still less money than aquantics

[Delphinus]

I wrestled with this issue for my planted FW tank, a 65g, wasn't sure whether I'd go Tek 4, Tek 6, or the Aquatinics with 5. Although I didn't end up doing anything just yet, I did at least look at these fixtures with an eye towards what I wanted to get "one day."

Anyhow, one thing I noticed, and this is important if you have a canopy that you don't want to modify - the Tek's ventilate (fan location) out the back, the Aquatinics ventilate out the sides.

So if you have a canopy and you went with the Aquatinics, you'd have to cut holes in the canopy for the fans.