dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Well.. tax man dropped off a nice chunk of change for the wife and me. So its time to upgrade my lights. Heres my situation. 55g tank with a 250w 14k hammy off a mag ballast. 2x 48" VHO. 1x 50/50 and 1x actinic. Now my tank isnt bright enough, and i figure no matter what bulb i go with, im not going to be happy. So i had some thoughts. Should i just go with a dual HQI 250w ballast and be done with it, or i was thinking of just seeing if i could squeeze 2x 48" T5's to my current setup. opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 You want it to be bright...do you have a chiller? if so two 400's would be very bright!!!!!!! and if you get a bigger tank, you would not have to get new lights...If not you could go that route, then 250's w/lumenarc minis (if you have the room)...you would be set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 Well my 150 that i need to setup will be in addition to my current tank, so the need for upgradability isnt really needed. So no dual 400w lol. Dont really want to have to buy a chiller if i dont have to. Gonna blast the sump with fans to keep heat down. as far as room goes, theres not much there. everything right now is in a standard hood for a 55g. the mh's and the vhos are mounted inside. Now if i move my vhos just bit more the middle of the hood, i think i might be able to fit 1 T5 on each side with reflectors. Then my vhos would just be straight actinics and probably a 10k T5 and maybe a blue+. or should i not mess with it and just run some helios off a dual HQI ballast?] im just getting horrible growth with the hammy, and i dont like the color either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 2 250w de pendants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 id love to get pendants.. but i dont think theyd fit inside the hood with the vho's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 id love to get pendants.. but i dont think theyd fit inside the hood with the vho's. more so then mogal sockets and reflectors...pedants are pretty small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 the pendant would have to be 5" or less, wide to fit. just measured Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 http://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic/subsubcategorypage.asp?subcatindexid=lt-mh-rf Go all the way to the bottom the last one...it is 6" wide...could you squeeze an extra inch...and to be honest, if you have vho's already no need for t-5's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 the T5's would be just to add a little more brightness and let me run dual actinic vho's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 the T5's would be just to add a little more brightness and let me run dual actinic vho's I would go either or, ditch the VHO's and go all t-5's, or do not worry about it...but that is just my thinking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dippin61 Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 hmm.. some of those pendants look nice.. i wonder if i could squeeze the 6 1/2 inch pfo pendant in there.. any thoughts on the pfo? only reason i bring up the T5's is i have a spare 660 laying around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 For the most part, reflector is a reflector...some slightly better then others, but a 2 x 250w HQI over a 55gal, your be fine with any reflector... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 with your hood, how high off the water would the new pendants be? With HQI's I would recommend keeping them at least 7 or 8 " off the water at minimum. I had some issues with that when I first slapped in my DE HQI's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powdertang05 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 if your going to do actinic do either vho's or t-5's i recently went from vho's to t-5's because they cost alot per bulb and last 6 months or with t-5's you buy the bulb for about the same and it lasts for about 12 to 14. do regret getting my t-5 for actinic because the vho's are much better at color pop but then again im not using reflectors with the t-5's and also its a pci bulb ill get d&d ones shortly to see if that fixes my problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Try out one of the new URI T5's powdertang. I saw them at Joels last weekend. Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 T5s all the way. No heat concerns and will blow that 250w MH out of the water! You can get any color you want out of the T5s and the bulbs last twice as long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVES Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 For the most part' date=' reflector is a reflector...some slightly better then others, but a 2 x 250w HQI over a 55gal, your be fine with any reflector...[/quote'] I dont agree reflectors are all the same, Ive seen some pretty dramatic differences by changing them out. That particular pendant is pretty ghetto if its the one Ive seen. Its made by TAAM/Rio/commodity access. I got one for free at a trade show and if I remember right I gave it away to a customer because I didnt feel right about selling it. The glass doesnt fit tight (that was the biggest issue) so its going to leak a ton of UV out the ends. I could be wrong and its not that pendant, but it sure looks like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 I dont agree reflectors are all the same, Ive seen some pretty dramatic differences by changing them out. That particular pendant is pretty ghetto if its the one Ive seen. Its made by TAAM/Rio/commodity access. I got one for free at a trade show and if I remember right I gave it away to a customer because I didnt feel right about selling it. The glass doesnt fit tight (that was the biggest issue) so its going to leak a ton of UV out the ends. I could be wrong and its not that pendant, but it sure looks like it. Yeah, I guess I was thinking of SE reflectors...not DE...but over a 55 tank, I think most reflectors would work out for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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