choices

[marine281]

Hi all, I'm busily planning my next tank for when we move into our new house, this is the tank waiting patiently at the shop..

Its a 4x2x2 with a 4x1.5x1.5 sump under it. Nice bevelled glass on the whole thing, including the sump!

I'm looking into my lighting options at the minute, its going to be T5, just a matter of choosing between whats out there. Doing it on a bit of a budget, as we just bought a house, so won't be getting high end stuff, but have come up with a few options..

Hopefully links are ok:

Florescent Light Fittings And Accessories - T5 Florescent Light Fittings Supreme Aqua - T5 AQUARIUM LIGHT 6x54W H/O 1210 Long Individual Reflectors - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - AQUARIUM LIGHT 4x54W T5 1210 Long Fish Tank Light

Florescent Light Fittings And Accessories - T5 Florescent Light Fittings Supreme Aqua - T5 AQUARIUM OVERHEAD LIGHTING 3x54W Hi Output 1200 - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - T5 AQUARIUM OVERHEAD LIGHTING 3x54W Hi Output 1200

Florescent Light Fittings And Accessories - T5 Florescent Light Fittings SolarMax - T5 AQUARIUM LIGHT 4x54W H/O 1200 Long Individual Reflectors - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - T5 AQUARIUM LIGHT 4x54W H/O 1200 Long Individual Reflectors

Octopus Horizon 4000 4ft 4x54W T5HO

Any opinions on the above?
I like the look of the 3rd one down, the reflectors look decent enough & I like the hinge, allowing it the lift up out of the way without removing it.

Any other recommendations? I'm in Australia, so may not have the range that the rest of you do!

 

[BigAl07]

What a SWEET looking tank! Congrats on the tank(s) and the new house! That's so exciting! :bouncer: :bouncer: :bouncer:

Now about lighting.... I've never seen that brand but here's my "gut feeling".... With lighting you generally (up to a point) get what you pay for. I don't know the US to AU conversion rate on $$ but I doubt it's very significant. With that being said...

Take this one 6x54W T5 1210 Long Fish Tank Light AQUARIUM LIGHT With Individual Reflectors for $198 ... that's less than 1/3 what you'd expect to pay for that. If you bought the raw components (I'm talking half way decent stuff not junk) it would cost probably 2x that price. I'd be VERY leery of all of those links. I can tell you this much.... on my first tank I tried to save a few dollars on light fixture because I was on a budget. I ended up buying FOUR different light fixtures until I was happy with my system. I wasted a lot of $$$ trying to save a few dollars. :cursin: :cursin: :cursin:

I understand you're "across the pond" but this should give an idea of a comparison to other lights.. (you may have to convert $$$ though)

Catalina Aquariums gives you

48 inch BLACK SOLAR T5 HO - 4 X 54W $275.00

48 inch BLACK SOLAR T5 HO - 6 X 54W $375.00

48 inch BLACK SOLAR T5 HO - 8 X 54W $550.00


Now I realize s/h (if it can be shipped over there) would be hefty to say the least but at least the above links give you something to compare to. Keep in mind that you can get BETTER lighting than what I've linked but you're going to pay proportionally more for it. With Catalina you get a lot more

than with most middle of the road lighting companies.

Hopefully at the very least this gives you something to use as a tool for more research.

Good luck and Happy Reefing

 

[marine281]

Thanks for the input, i'll continue hunting. There are plenty of nice all in one units with 4x54 watts, but i'm not confident that it would be quite enough light, thats why i'm looking for something a little bigger, 3-400 watts is the aim, but I guess the wattage doesn't count for much if your reflectors aren't up to the job..

 

[BigAl07]

You wouldn't need 3x400w MH units for that tank IMHO. Each MH has an approximate coverage of 2'x2' and 400w can penetrate VERY deep. If you run those #'s you can see 2x400w MH will more than cover and penetrate your tank. Reflectors are VERY key with any T5 or MH fixture but honestly with 400w you're not going to have to worry about much unless it's HOT where you live. That's a lot of light energy (aka HEAT) being generated.

 

[marine281]

Sorry, meant 300 to 400 watts of total light, not 3x400, that would be a lot of heat! and it does get warm here, which is the main reason i'm looking at T5s over MH.

 

[marine281]

Catalina ship to Australia, and its not as expensive as I thought, so i'm looking at getting either a 6x54, or 8x54 black solar.

I like the fact the the 6x54 has 2 lights seperate from the rest, would make "morning" less stressful by just running actinic first up. But the 8 would give me that little extra wattage which would be nice.. decisions decsision...