Which of these lights would be best for my tank?

[jamal-188]

These lights are about the limit of what I can spend for my tank(110G 31" deep tank) Is going to be Fish/invert only maybe with some coral placed near the top down the road. I"m not too familiar with lights, and these are all about the same watts, so will these lights look the same on my tank?



T5 Light 4X54

PC 4x60

JBL 4X65

and

Aqualight 4X65

 

[cj10488]

MHO I would say that If you are going to place Light demanding corals in the tank at anytime or have even thought of you might as well spend the little extra money that 400watt MH lights are going to cost you.. But as for the lights if it was just between the 4 light choices listed above I would go with the JBL 4x65... I personally have a Catalina 6x55 fixture on my 55gal and I wish I would have gone MH.. Everything looks better under MH.. A dual MH fixture is still in my near future but it would have been nice not spending the 400.00 on my lights and just adding another 50.00 or so and getting a MH fixture...

HTH,
James

 

[biotoxin]

JBL is the bottom of the pile but thats just my opinion. I wouldnt go with anything you listed. I would go directly to marineandreef.com and get Customsealife. 3-5 watts/gallon is the recommended range.

 

[cj10488]

Depending on the length of your tank I would suggest something like this..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2353736313&category=3212

Build yourself a hood and get a couple of bulbs and your set.. Those are the ones I have been looking at for My 55gal BTW..

Hth,
James

 

[jamal-188]

Depending on the length of your tank I would suggest something like this..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2353736313&category=3212

Build yourself a hood and get a couple of bulbs and your set.. Those are the ones I have been looking at for My 55gal BTW..

Hth,
James

My tank is 48" long. That light looks really really nice but I think I'd need to buy the MH bulbs yet which would put me over $500. This will mainly be fish/invert only with maybe some corals placed near the top, do I really need huge lights like the ones everybody mentions? I don't mind spending $300-350 if they are going to be alot better than the lights I mentioned but I don't know about $500+ :?

 

[kribbz]

i would agree with CJ10488. the coloration is sooo much better than anything i have ever seen. but if your restricted to those four choices i'd go with the custom sealife one.

 

[cj10488]

One thing is that you may plan on a Fish only with some inverts now with maybe a few corals later on down the road.. However once you get the Itch of Corals its kinda hard to stop... My tank was planning on just being a FO tank.. that lasted about 2 weeks... One thing with that light is you should not be limited in what you put in your tank.. But as with most things everything can be debated and lighting is one of the most debatable things..

Hth,
James

 

[MACATUA]

Hey man,

I have the PC w/ moonlights fixture and love it on my 55 gallon! It works out to almost 5 watts per gallon, is VERY bright, and the moon lights are just too cool! So there is my vote!

 

[jamal-188]

Hey man,

I have the PC w/ moonlights fixture and love it on my 55 gallon! It works out to almost 5 watts per gallon, is VERY bright, and the moon lights are just too cool! So there is my vote!

But my tank is 110G and 31" deep :? I should have bought a smaller tank. Maybe I'll turn my 44G corner tank into a coral tank if I can ever get the copper out, will be much cheaper to light properly. Is there some middle ground here... something better then the lights I listed but not $500? Or something that would be good for now and I could add a second set or upgrade it later without totally getting rid of it and loosing money?

 

[cj10488]

you can go with the lighting that I purchased for my 55gal...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2353469775&category=3212

it would be alot more lighting than any of the above mentioned.. as its 6x55watt

Make sure you specify you want 4 of the bulbs 10k and 2 TRUE Actinic

You would get about an extra 100watts more than the ones that you listed.. They light up my 55gal quite nicely but I would still recommend MH but I am one who only likes to spend the money once.. Now If I go to MH the money I spent on the Pc lights is pretty much wasted.. But I already have Ideas as to what to do with them..

HTH,
James

 

[kribbz]

actually what i would do if i were you. is buy this set up:
http://www.hellolights.com/4lamvhoretki2.html
that way you have something that gives you the option to upgrade later without loosing any money. the reason i say this is because i think that floresent bulbs have the best Actinic color so when you begin to get into coral you can add like 2 Metal Halides and change the VHO's over to just Actinic blue. but until you get coral they will provide excellent coloration to your tank. just make sure when you put these in a canopy you build it to expand to halides later which need to be placed at least 8" from the water.

 

[biotoxin]

now i see why i love nano's you go into debt just trying to light a 55 gallon tank. Not to mention lr, ls costs also

 

[MACATUA]

Oops, I missed it. My lights are good for a 55, but a 110, not so much. Well, good luck, I'm sure all will work out.

 

[jamal-188]

I really like the VHO retro fit kit and the 6x55 PC, I think I'm leaning towards the PC because I have no idea how to build the rest of what I'd need for the retro kit and I guess the PC would be a little brighter...I probably won't have money to add MH's later anyway. Does everybody think these lights would still work better than the T5 setup I listed? I thought T5 lights were pretty close to MH?

 

[CountZero]

I too am going through the same delemma, I am getting ready to set up my 120 gallon 24" deep tank, and I have no idea what lights to go with now. I would like the performance of MH lights, but the huge energy drain (and wallet drain) and waste heat make me want to go with a Power Compact setup instead. I have a friend who used to own a LFS and he keeps telling me that PC lighting is the way to go, the bulbs last longer, the cost per hour is lower, etc, etc. But then I come on here and I hear people saying just the opposite and im torn. I trust my friend but I also trust you fine people on AA, who have shown themselves to be incredibly knowledgable. <sigh> I know that no matter what I decide to do, I will end up kicking myself in the butt.....

Zero

 

[jamal-188]

I think I"m just gonna go with 2 250w or 2 400w MH lights. Hellolights has them for around $350 shipped to my house.

 

[kribbz]

GOOD CHOICE!!!! you won't regret it i promise.

 

[jamal-188]

I was told on RC that they don't keep glass tops on the aquarium because of heat build up. Do you guys think that I'll have a problem putting the lights in my canopy which will probably only be like 5 inches from the water top?