Lighting question

[mr_X]

Don't get me wrong, i'm not knocking metal halides. It just seems to be the common misconception on this website that you have to have metal halides in order to grow sps, clams...etc.
You can grow whatever you want with the right wattage and configuration of T5's, Halides, or quality LEDs.
I think that's where SWSCJ got offended. I just didn't want the thread starter or readers to think a thousand watts was absolutely necessary.
New technology has made less wattage just as effective, if not more effective.

 

[deepseadan]

Don't get me wrong, i'm not knocking metal halides. It just seems to be the common misconception on this website that you have to have metal halides in order to grow sps, clams...etc.
You can grow whatever you want with the right wattage and configuration of T5's, Halides, or quality LEDs.
I think that's where SWSCJ got offended. I just didn't want the thread starter or readers to think a thousand watts was absolutely necessary.
New technology has made less wattage just as effective, if not more effective.

Just a quick note on the quality leds comment. One MAJOR thing I learned when going through the led experience was be careful with spread. Go with a company or build a diy that uses high power leds with no optics or wide optics like the radion's 135 degree optics. Even though I would consider aqua illumination to be a quality brand, they have it all wrong. The optics give awful "spotty" par and spectrum which either cooks or misses the corals. If I ever try leds again, I would try a fixture like ecotech's radion or ecoxotic's new panorama pro modules. They have the whole spread thing down. Ai's nearly wiped out my entire tank. Thank goodness my corals responded great when I went back to ati. But when ati t5's work as good as they do, why in the world would I want to risk trying anything else again?

 

[mr_X]

power consumption? Right now I'm running 648 watts for 10 hours a day. Good info on the LEDs though.

 

[deepseadan]

power consumption? Right now I'm running 648 watts for 10 hours a day. Good info on the LEDs though.

How high are your t5's mounted above the water line?

 

[mr_X]

About 5" or so.

 

[boardsurfer]

About 5" or so.

Doug, do you get salt creep at that distance? I have a 72" 640watt T5 setup with lids that I'll be removing soon off of the DT, and I was wondering if the fixture would get salt creep from microbubbles popping in my DT.

<sorry, don't mean to hijack this thread>