Rethinking my halides.

[RyanG]

what are we discussing? why you live in NY and are browsing ARC?

You little jerk hahaha:mrgreen: You dont ever find yourself wandering around following links and find yourself browsing some club forum halfway around the world? I was looking a club from Thailand just before I found this tank! Broaden your horizons and see what is going on elsewhere in the hobby.

 

[dustin_P74]

yeah yeah yeah:grumble:

 

[Bifferwine]

I prefer T5s over halides in almost every situation. That is, the exception is my current tank which is 7 feet long and almost 3 feet deep :(. I saw MUCH better growth and color under T5s than under halides, and would switch back to them if I could.

 

[RyanG]

Alto I just deciphered your post! I had not seen that tank when posting my aquascaping ideas.

THis is the tank for some inspiration
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1289588&perpage=25&pagenumber=13

 

[dustin_P74]

thats a cool aquascape but that huge hole will be alot of tank space gone for frags

 

[Altohombre]

I like the other one better.

 

[dustin_P74]

i know this about the t-5 lighting but did you see his massive stocking list

 

[lightcs4]

That stand is awesome! I only wish I could do something that nice. As far as the lighting, I would stick to the MH lights if you already have them. I have become a fan of MH since getting mine. My stylophora are doing great under them. Both T5s and MH produce heat. MH seem cooler because they spread the heat over a larger area. The T5s are supposed to be cheaper to operate and I will take people's word for it, but the HQI bulds are better than the mogul bulbs as far as energy costs.

 

[cthegame]

awesome!

 

[RyanG]

OK well one of the local guys is proposing a trade, 7 Icecap SLRs, a 660 and the standoffs and endcaps to go with the SLRS for my Lumenarc III mini's. Still trying to figure out the final details of the trade. Do you all think its a good trade? the mini's are 115 a piece new. He was looking for 120 for 660 and 20 a piece for the SLRS

 

[ccCapt]

Now this is 3 Luminarcs for that stuff? Sounds like a good deal for him. :)
Going by actual retail price, it's a comparable trade.

Being that your tank is 6' and they don't make 6' T-5's, what would your plan be? That ballast will run a total of 440w...which would be 11 39w 3' bulbs.

 

[RyanG]

I was planning on running 60" bulbs with the two island I wont need the last six inches on either end. The trade was going to be for two of the lumenarcs, he works for "THE" prominent LFS in WNY and prices were going off wholesale(80 for the lumenarcs 120 for the caps 20 for each slr and 5 for each standoff and endcap.)

 

[ccCapt]

So that's 5 80w bulbs. Is this the only lighting you plan on having? 400w on a 180?

 

[daugherty]

i think you will be getting the short end of the stick on this one. if you want to do t5's just sell you md's outright to someone and get a good set of lights like reefs or check out catalina aquariums for a fixture. here are some lights i bet if you called them you could get a great deal and or have them add more bulbs since it says they will make a fixture that will fit your application.

http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/pro...=1449&osCsid=16f6d774bf0f376a0d946ebb79857ed2

 

[Melonbob]

I just ordered an 8X80 t5 setup for the 180, I hope it turns out sweet!

 

[RyanG]

I guess Im going to just keep the halides.