Cheapest lighting cost for SPS coral

[imisky]

Originally Posted by fencer

t5HO 6 x 54 = 324 watts is not > 250 watt MH in power consumption. Your choice of lights also depend on

1. how deep your tank is
2. how much your willing to spend
3. Cost of bulbe replacement...say every year
4. DIY you might save some money
5. Don't go cheap on SPS ....lighting is critical

i agree, we need to know a little bit more information about this tank, how long? how deep?

your #5 is a little misleading and is also what alot of people believe about SPS, its only a part of the contribution to great color/great growth in SPS. having a $1500+ lighting system and an unstable tank with swinging parameters your SPS will never do good.

also i think its wrong to compare 4ft T5HO bulbs to 250W, MH are supposed to only give a cast of roughly 2ft x 2ft and if you lift it a little bit it can light up a 3ft tank without issue. so the better comparison would be towards the 3ft T5 which is 39W

6x 39W = 234W which is still some saving the power when you put into consideration of your chiller kicking on less and etc the savings is quite a bit per year.

T5HO does save more money than compared to MH, if i was to use 250W it would be on something roughly 3ft per 250W well lets see:

250W bulb replacement lets go with phoenix (ive only ever run these) : $77 at OA before tax
6x T5HO 39W (3ft bulb): 6x $25-30 (using Gmans) = $125-180 before tax