New tank setup advice

[bongo]

will start a new thread

[Vincenzo.]

ya some lps dont need much at all. Though i been doing some home test with ricordia/yuma i have a few being blasted with flow and a few in low flow and for some wierd reason they are all perectly content. Also none of mine are at the bottom, all middle and top. Everones tank will vary. Plus a species will adapt to like it or they will wither and die. Only thing i cant get to stop moving is my condy, its all over the place, since im always playing with powerheads.

[OttawaReefer]

I haven't gotten to the stage of powerheads yet

I bought three small heads to work on a wavetimer bar from marinescape.  Those will be fine until the tank finished cycling. 

Bongo:  How are your corals and polyps with twin 150s?

Everyone else:  has anyone had any success with T5s on a 90G?  Like some people have mentioned: they are a bit "greener"

[Vincenzo.]

nothing is wrong with T5's, they are Great lights. but you need to make sure you have good bulbs and individual reflectors.

also test prove that MH lights give better effect/corals look nicer. but again you can achieve this with t5's and the proper bulb selection

on a 90g i'd go with 6-8 t5 bulbs

[mikerobart]

There has been tons of amazing tanks under only t5, it's really personal preference until you get really deep then mh might be only option for sps/clams. Check on reefcentral look up "t5 only tanks" or something like that. Actually use google the rc search engine sucks!

[RossW]

With T5's you can keep ANYTHING.  I have clams, sps, as do many many others.  It really is a personal perference.  Both are capable of keeping anything you like in your tank.  The key to both MH and T5 is quality components, i.e.: reflector's and bulbs

[Vincenzo.]

^very true, T5 is very affective when setup right. and it's lower power consumption and heat generated off them.

[Hookup]

^very true, T5 is very affective when setup right. and it's lower power consumption and heat generated off them.

Actually, I just read a thread that compared the T5 power consumption to MH power consumption rates.  Though there wasn't hard conclusive data, all the examples that were provided show'ed that they consume the exact same amount of energy.  The reason that T5's got the reputation for being lower consumption was due to the fact that most people are actually throwing less wattage onto the tank when they switch from MH to T5's.   As an example, my 6foot tank will have 10x5foot T5's which are 80watts each for a total of 800 watts.  To light the same tank with MH, the typical person would use 3x250MH + 2 80w T5's for  a total of 910w, many people would have even run with 4x80w T5 bulbs, pushing you up over 1000w total... So it would appear switching to T5's would be cheaper, whereinfact your just putting less power onto the tank.

Conservation of energy btw, covers that a watt of T5 energy = a watt of MH energy...

[bongo]

my corals and polyps are fine and growing strong under twin 150w MH and twin 130w actinic pc (my birdnest is growing crasy under it and new zoas are appearing each odd week on the middle and bottom live rocks)

I love the looks of my corals under it and the shimmering effect of MH... I'm considering cancelling the cable... but hockey season is just starting

I chose this fixture because it is:

1- good (it is almost the same fixture than marinescape has on their 90g DT which grows acropora on the bottom)
2- does not require the addition of a fan to control the water temp and therefore have manageable evap (my temp is very stable and the fixture is very close to the tank... I don't like when the light spills out from the tank and lights the whole livingroom or when I have to fill the 5g topoff bucket each two day)
3- won't bleach coral
4- on sale (I was not prepared to spend thousands of dollar for a fixture); and
5- nice looking (the gf said spend all you want but it has to look nice... so diy was out of the question for me).

[Vincenzo.]

thanks for clearing it up. I guess watt for watt its even.
But what i was getting at...

For example, a tank thats 36'' long u will put a 4 bulb 39watt T5 fixture, or less.. And for MH a 150watt or 2 150's or 150 and T5. This would be a greater watt value than the T5's.

What im getting at is normally for the tank size you have there is a standard T5 fixture and when u put MH's the total wattage would be greater than T5's, thus consuming more hydro.

Also, the heat produced from the MH's may have your air conditioner / central air unit run for a few minutes longer if u where to have T5's..thus increasing your hydro. Its not very much, lets just say it only stays on a total of 2 min extra a day..it will eventually add up.

So sorry, i am wrong in my post above. Just to clear up what i meant.

[Julie]

I have the corallife 2x150 mh and pc combo with the fans.
Generates alot of heat ; have it elevated on legs; if I had a choice I would suspend it from the ceiling.
Almost went T5 before T5 was popular because saw the corals it could maintain, final factor was lack of shimmer.
3 years and have only changed one mh bulb because it burnt out, went 14k.  I know the actinics have changed spectrum and really should change them. 
Not sure on hydro consumption, but very happy with fixture.  Growing one sps and it's well.
Thought hair algae was due to old MH but was actually heavy load.  Not sure if you saw Anthony Calfo, but he did not recommend yearly mh change.  There is a tool to verify the spectrum etc.. and they really don't change that much.
The club used to have one.
Same length fixture as the 90 gallon one so is portable for an upgrade.