T5 or CF lighting for 75-gallon native tank?

[gzeiger]

I'm completely new at this. I've been lighting my 75 with 2x40W fluorescents, which is woefully inadequate. My plants are almost all native from marginal habitats here in the South, and they need high light. Nearly all would grow wild in less than 2 feet of water in otherwise direct sun, and I now have them 2 feet deep in a room with essentially no sunlight.

In the current lighting the only long term survivors have been some ceratophyllum, valliseneria and anacharis, plus a couple emergent species that have put leaves above the surface, and a bit of java moss I couldn't resist. The val isn't doing very well, and I have some other plants I'd like to use but they just keep dying.

I'm looking at a couple options, but I know very little about it. Choices I am considering:

http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/product_info.php?cPath=71_136&products_id=1423

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13733 (the 48" one)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16770

 

[neilanh]

T5HO, without a doubt.

Those Catalina's you linked are nice. If you want the mother of all T5 lights, go TEK. Check out seedsetc.com, call bob over there and he can get you a good price. They are more expensive, but well worth the money in my opinion.

 

[gzeiger]

What's the advantage of the Catalina over the Nova Extreme?

What's better about the TEK? The descriptions I see from various Google sources sounds about the same as what I was looking at except for the price.

 

[neilanh]

I have no experience with the Novas, but know the catalinas to be very nice fixtures.

A friend of mine did a comparison, TEK vs. Catalinas. It's on here somewhere, I'll see if I can find it for you.

 

[neilanh]

Alright, here it is. Everytime I post this up, Ingg finds his way out of the woodwork to chime in. We'll see if that happens again.

Originally Posted by ingg
For the money, this was a good investment I can heartily recommend.

It has all the bells and whistles available, and a good buy can be found both from Catalina on their own site, and from EBay retailers. Legs, mounting sets, moonlights, fans, multiple bulb configurations, and they offer the ability to swap bulbs to what you want, as long as they stock the bulb type.

I think the Catalina fixture is a far better buy for the dollar spent than the Current fixtures, especially after Current raised their prices last last fall. It isa superior hood, has superior legs (Current fixtures have a wire frame "leg" that sits the fixture VERY low near the tank), and has a better warranty.

Yes, TEK's are a better fixture - and are easily 30-40% more, without the legs or moonlights included. Not everyone will see the need, nor honestly the benefit, of high end fixtures like TEK's. My high light big tank uses TEK's, and I am glad I spent the money for that tank - I am also pretty satisfied I saved the money on this 75g setup this Catalina fixture is for. Not necessarily a better buy than TEK's, but perhaps a better fit for many buyers (at least in freshwater).


In the end, it is a very good compromise of a better but still mid-line quality for a good price.