Tex
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have a 4 month old 100 gallon. I want to keep anything that suits my fancy. I'll have 125 of liverock, protein skimmer and anything else I need. Dimensions are 18" tall x 18" deep x 60" long. Still looking for lights. I bought a very nice wooden hood that matches stand and tank. I've narrowed my choices to T5's or a MH/T5 combo. MH's only are NOT out of the question.....but....the T5's look very promising. I could mount either type of retro in the hood. I've pretty much ruled out a complete fixture type that would be used in liue of a hood.
I found a deal today from www.aquauniverse.com for a 80 watt x 8 x 60" T5 retro fixture including bulbs and electronic ballast for $500 that will fit nicely into my hood. That would give me about 6.4 wpg. I'm thinking I would be covered for any type of corals down the road, MH notwithstanding. The beauty is, with this setup I could always take away a few of the T5 lamps and add some MH's down the road.
At this point, money ($700 or less) is really no object. The wife has taken an interest and has pointed a figurative gun to my head to order some damn lights.
Somebody, puhleese, just come by my house and stomp me in the head, steal my credit card and order me some freaking lights. The engineer in me just can't decide.
What do YOU guys think?
I found a deal today from www.aquauniverse.com for a 80 watt x 8 x 60" T5 retro fixture including bulbs and electronic ballast for $500 that will fit nicely into my hood. That would give me about 6.4 wpg. I'm thinking I would be covered for any type of corals down the road, MH notwithstanding. The beauty is, with this setup I could always take away a few of the T5 lamps and add some MH's down the road.
At this point, money ($700 or less) is really no object. The wife has taken an interest and has pointed a figurative gun to my head to order some damn lights.
Somebody, puhleese, just come by my house and stomp me in the head, steal my credit card and order me some freaking lights. The engineer in me just can't decide.
What do YOU guys think?
My work is done here. 
