HowardofNOVA February 25, 2004 Share February 25, 2004 After taking a year working on my 30gal system and finally getting it just right, I sold it last week. Now working on my new project: 90gal tank, Turbofloater1000 w/sump. Goal is to have reef tank with a dozen fish, anenomes, mushrooms, maybe a brain, etc and debating on what type of lighting would work. Trying to decide between a CustomSeaLife 48" Power Compact / MoonLite New in box 4x65w (2) 10,000K Premium-Daylight & (2) Ultra-Actinic 4 moonlight bulbs vs. spending the extra couple or $100 or 2 or 3 for a Halide. opinions? Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale February 25, 2004 Share February 25, 2004 Depends on if you want to keep SPS & Clams now or in the future. Also will depend on type of anenome you want to keep. In general BTA anenome will survive under vho / pc. However, it will do much better, in my opinion if you have MH lights. ALso, with the depth of a 90, you would better to get MH lights in my opinion. Others will argue they keep stuff under vho and PC's. I spent my 1st year with PC's. Most corals survived, but didn't grow much and lacked color. Then I upgraded to 250 w mh and now and have some killer colored corals and growth is awesome, corals poking out of the water. Getter better bang for buck and I like the way mh lights make the water shimmer. my .0000002 of an opinion. Craig PS: welcome to the boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grav February 25, 2004 Share February 25, 2004 I think 260 watts of PC on a 90g is short. You could keep mushrooms and maybe some softies, but I think an anenome would be out, LPS would be tough and for get SPS. With all that room, you are gonna want to fill it. Better to spend an extra buck now, then buy 2 systems over time. I have 226w of pc on a 33g (think 55 only shorter) and wouldn't mind more power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA February 25, 2004 Author Share February 25, 2004 tng Thanks Craig and Grav, I was, well my wallet was afraid you would say that, but makes sense! Though clams and SPS are not on my to do list currently, with my growing enthusism, I'm sure I'll be tinkering with them soon. Any suggestions or secrets on the do it yourself units? Currently the $500+ price tags are a little rough, with trying to get my girls to Disney World this Spring. Right now, I'm looking to get a Wet/Dry125 or 150 system setup (in case anyone got a deal out there) and then will focus on the lighting. By the way, what's your opinions on a MH vs T5 HO Aquarium light 48 inch 8 X 54 watt setup for 90gal? Appreciate the replies! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquariareview February 26, 2004 Share February 26, 2004 I have friends in FL who are running a 90 with 2 ice cap 660 and 8 54watt t5's with ind. reflectors. (4 act-4 8800k) Besides a lot of softies, the tank has green slimers and 2 maxima clams and purple edge monti and a large galaxy. To my eye it looks great. he has had growth and he has the best color I have seen in a while. the system has been going for 16 months. He had 6 110watts vho bulbs before and when he switched he had to raise the hood 5in because it was too bright. He has since lowered it to about half of that. they now sit about 41/2 inch off the water. They are the real deal. the Germans have been using them a lot and many of them think they are better than MH if the tank is less than 20 in deep. Biggest cost is bulb replacment. About $30 per every 10-12 month. but some of the german mannfactures are making bulbs with a longer life but they cost a lot more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale February 26, 2004 Share February 26, 2004 Beyond the upfront cost, Nathan is correct to advise you to look also at replacement cost of bulbs. Most MH bulbs are good for 9 months to 2 years depending on brand. If you get HQI, a lot of reefers report getting close to 18+ months. I get about 1 year on mogul MH bulbs. A lot of PC bulbs are 25-50 a bulb. Multiply that times 8 and ouch. 2 mh or hqi will cost ya 50 to 100 a bulb. I would go with HQI and supplement with some VHO actinic. Reefmon has used his vho actinics for about 2 years. I'm looking to buying the cords from PFO to switch my PC actinics to VHO's cause you get longer life on vho and color lasts longer too. IMO, after 6 months PC bulbs are junk, even the actinic and even the act 03 as well as the 7100 actinic bulbs. No experience with t5's. Contact johnc on the board. He has 2 250w hqi with 10k ushios on his 65 and some actinics. I think that looks good. You also are welcome to come see my 250 10k xm's and 400w xm on blueline ballasts. Best advice, ask some club members to come see their lights before you buy. where to buy - you have to shop around. I don't want to go down road of advising online vs. buying from a local store. It's always nice to support the local shops, but ... well you make the call you can afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquariaUSA February 26, 2004 Share February 26, 2004 I would avoid CSL at all costs. They are no longer in the business. If your plan is to keep clams, anemones, and sps later on, don't skimp on the lighting, for you will more than likely upgrade to halides later on. Do you plan to have an open top or canopy top? If you can save some money by avoiding the purchase of a wet/dry, then using a plain glass tank for a sump will be perfect...as long as you have good quality liverock for your biological filtration. I think if you polled how many people use wet/dry filtration on their reefs, the % would be under 5% IMO. Either way, congrats on getting a bigger tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg February 26, 2004 Share February 26, 2004 Howard- doing a little diy for a hood is not difficult. Many members have made their own- and save a lot of money. Definately go for the halides- if you think you are committed to this endeavor. In 2 years, you can make up that price difference in bulbs as craig mentioned. Look through our links- there are a bunch of good suppliers there for ballasts and reflectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA February 26, 2004 Author Share February 26, 2004 :p Gentlemen, your doing great, I really appreciate your great feedback! If only my bank account could keep up with my enthusiasm! I'm agreeing with you on the choice to be MH! My tank size is 48Lx22Hx16W I was looking at the CSL system, being the best in CL, then reading some good things on the T5 in magazines and emailing between PetSupplyLiquidators (They rated them a 8.5 on a scale of 1 CL and 10 being MH). But the bulb replacement was and is a real value feature that needs to be taken into consideration. For my 90, would you recommend getting a combo unit with 2 175W MH and 1Blue/1 10K 65W units? That would give me 480w, correct? It seems such units are running over $500 on website and ebay routes. If I did the DIY route, which I pretty good with my hands, what would you recommend in equipment (ballast especially and number of fans)? Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sph2sail February 26, 2004 Share February 26, 2004 DIY MH Project is a thread on my 90G system lighting project. I got the ballasts from Aquariareview and I believe he still has some (or access to some). For my 90G, I'm running (2) 250W Iwasaki 6500K MH with (2) 96W Actinic 03 Power Compacts in a PFO Parallel reflector setup. Glad to show it to you if you like to inspect and see color, etc. steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA February 26, 2004 Author Share February 26, 2004 8-]] Steve, Appreciate the respone, will read over your info and let you know what I decide. But if your inviting me to see your system setup first hand, I would love an opportunity to see either yours or other members DIY setups work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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