lighting advice

ok, options and more options

I have a 125 gal tank, Im working on making it a reef. I know that lighting mostly has to do with what i want in the tank. Im realy wanting it to be fairly easy to mantain. with semi easy corals. Im not looking to be married to this tank daily! Their seems to be many options as to lighting (t5, VHO, MH, and leds) what does a person do? I currently have one t5 fixture, so at this time i fill that i realy have no lighting, and can go any direction i want. So this leads me to you guys, To all of the pros, if you had it all to do over again what would you do. I do have the tank placed in a wall. so how the fixtures look realy doesnt matter. Im mostly wondering about the LEDs, Im finding a lot of mixed opinions on this topic.

Any advice, or opinions would be great

Thanks
Greg

 

I would go T5 HO a few of us went to The Planet Coral last weekend and a a goot talk with Fish. That is all they use on there tanks. For a 125 you can use a 48" 6 light and use 2 -12000k 2- 14000K and 1 ea of 10000K and 20000k. That covers all the spectrums and you will get good growth and vibrent color.

 

I have no experience with T-5s, but since you mentioned LEDS maybe you are a DIY kinda person. Here is a link that looks very promising:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14796834#post14796834

I personally use metal halides and VHO actinics om my humble set up...

 

You changing your mind on my light greg??

 

nate if your still there catch me on chat

 

If you are the one that is going to buy that solaris that Nate has, you can't beat it, wish I had the bucks, I would. That well be low maintance and should'nt have any heat issues from lighting. Other then that I agree with Kevin, good T5's well grow most any corals and well greatly reduce the heat issues of MH's.
You won't get the shimmering that MH's give through the water, but alot issues to deal with. cheers

 

The Solaris fixture cannot be repaired anymore if something goes out as the company has gone out of business I believe. I am not even sure you can get replacement ballast for it anymore. How much are you asking for it Nate (out of curiousity)?Alot of money to risk if something goes out...??

This link may help you Nate or whomever buys the Solaris from you:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1612327&highlight=solaris

Fishermann in the link above people who have done the DIY have bragged about the shimmer on certain LEDS they use. I am like you though I always heard that halides are the only lights that will shimmer.

 

These shimmer pretty good when there is a current moving the surface of the water around.

Just let me know Greg. If you don't want it I'll throw it on ebay. I just didn't want to have to ship it.

 

So how much?

 

I am guessing $700-$800. Maybe $650 locally.

Here is the interesting part of the PFO story, 3rd post down. Its a shame as its a truly great idea that will be on the back burner for a while.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... ht=solaris

 

Really the only thing I knew about it was what he told me he paid for it two years ago which was $2800. I was asking $1000 based on that but I guess I'd take $750. Not $650 locally, I can ship at buyers expense if I don't sell locally. I'd like to get $750 or I'd probably keep it myself.

 

I am not trying to be a wet rag, and its your right to sell stuff for what you want. But man you paid less than $750 for all of that stuff!! I know you went and tore it down and all, but wow.

I would rather see you sell it on E-bay or Reef Central than to try and make that much money of local club members. Based on the things you were selling in the for sale forum, you would have made that much on three items (1 ricordia rock and two clams).

I am also aware that LFS stores would charge a lot for similar items, but what a profit on such a short turn around.

The light is also two years old he told me, and yes they are supposed to have a approx. 10 year life span. That has yet to be proven since they have only been out about 3-4 years(I believe). $700 -$1000 no warranty on a two year old light fixture from a company that no longer exists. I wish the buyer well. I also really hope you sell it for that, just not to someone on this board. Here is the link were I asked him about the light:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... id=1608655

I agree with you on its cutting edge technology also. Cool system, and I hope to see more in the near future.

People will pay what they will, I just hate to see someone try to profit so much from it on a local board.

For the record I was wanting to buy this, but my wife did not want me to. I was interested in the light and live rock mainly. The light would have been sold on Reef Central more than likely for about $700-750 starting point and come down from there. I was more curious about the light since I personally do not believe the light would be sufficient for my needs.

I am not trying to flame you or anything, and I am sorry if I upset anyone. I just could not keep quite any longer on this. This America do as you will, I said my piece. I probably should have pm'd this also. Sorry once again.

 

Great info Ralph, I had no idea of all the trouble going on with the LED's. All the prices I ever saw was way more then I wanted to spend for new tech., thought I would wait until they came down like most new things do. Sounds like it was a good move now. Had no idea of the problems or the law suit, oh well guess i'll stick with my t-5 hood and one mh pendent. In Nates defense, he sold the stuff I bought at very reasonable prices I thought. I got 12 heads of very blue mushrooms on a nice rock for $30, 8 heads of a very pretty turqoise and purple rics on another piece of rock for $30. I paid $100 for a nice tear drop maxima which he was asking $150 for, but when I told him what they were selling for at NS he came down and although it was no steal, I figured it was worth it since it came from a tank that the guy looked like he knew what he was doing and upon inspection was clean and he promised to give my money back if I had any issues with the foot, which looked fine. I probably would have been asking $1000 for the light also, since it cost $2800 new not knowing of all the issues. But it does seem to have a lot of them, and thats to bad as it looked like a good idea. I also didn't know LED's shimmered, ohwell live and learn, that why we have these boards. cheers

 

DUDE! You said it was worth $700-$800! I dropped to $750. I think that's reasonable. Yes, I've already made my money back and then some but I put up the money, tore it down, and set it up in my small condo (getting flamed by my fiance every day it's still in here). FWIW I talked him down to $650 for everything. Why does that matter?? If I paid $12 for a new ferrari would the ferrari only be worth $100 or would you be angry because I'm selling it for close to what it's worth (like everyone else) and making tons of money off it? What I paid should have no effect on what I sell it for.

You ever fragged your coral?? Didn't that frag grow? So you paid nothing for it right? Then why don't you just give all your frags away to the "people on this board".

I'm done.

Later

 

O(UC)H guess i'll stick with the lighting I have, or get some MH no reason to make someone a killing sounds like they havent done to bad so far!!!!

 

I'm a new reefer and new to this group. I am still setting up my tank and have a very legitimate question about lighting. I was looking for expert advice and knew this was the place to get experienced opinions. I started this thread, and I don't appreciate it being hijacked in this way. I would appreciate it for this to be the last comment on this thread. It would be nice if the moderators would just delete it all together since it's turned ugly. Thanks to those of you who provided constructive advice. I appreciate you taking the time.

For the record, I am very pleased with everything I purchased from Nate. He spent several hours with me and provided lots of great advice. I have been watching this forum for live rock for three months. I am glad he posted his items for sale on this forum instead of eBay or another forum, for it gave me the opportunity to purchase live rock, corals and more for a very reasonable price. I do not care what Nate paid for it nor should anyone else. It is none of our business.

 

Sorry Greg. I got a little worked up.

As for your lighting question. As long as you have a good fan setup or a nice chiller and a nice auto top off I would go with MH's with t5 actinics. If you don't want to deal with all of that I would go with an all t5 setup or the LED's. If you want that shimmer effect without having to deal with the heat and evap from MH's you can go with an all t5 setup and these LED's, they're only about $50 and they are made to provide that "shimmering" effect.

Here is a link to purchase them. -- http://www.marineandreef.com/PowerBrite_LED_Systyem_10K_Current_USA_p/rcu01645.htm

Here is a link to the best price I could find on a nice t5 setup-- http://www.marineandreef.com/Coralife_72_T5_Aqualight_Nova_72_inch_T5_Aquarium_Lighting_s/438.htm

You want to make sure that any t5 setup you go with comes with individual reflectors. They will provide you with a much greater par.

Hope that helped.

Sorry again about the hijack earlier. I felt a little on the defensive.

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad to hear that you're happy with everything you purchased from me.

Nate.