Reef Discussion

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
Lighting
What have you used to light your tank? what has worked best for you?

Answer these questions in
-the type of light eg 250w MH with 2x24w t5's using ati bulbs
-how long you have used the light for
-what coral you keep under the light
-do you plan to upgrade in the future
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
ill start it off, i have used metal halides led and t5's.
i started off with metal halides when i first started. they put out a nice amount of light although my tank couldnt keep up with the heat. i also didn't like that i had very little attinic supplementation. i was running two 150w shopfitting units with 20k generic brand bulbs. i then moved onto cheap leds, i found the colours under the cheap leds were decent but certain corals didn't like it, when i changed tanks i moved to an 8xbulb 39w t5 unit. filled with ati bulbs. i have been getting great colours under this and its easy to change the colour temp just by changing one bulb. although i do miss the crisp light of the halides/led. also the t5's produce zero shimmer effect on the sand bed.
i do also have an illumimagic mc45 blaze led unit over my frag tank. coral colours are looking great under this the same as the t5's and the growth rate is also great. this is running off the same water as my display tank.
when i do eventualy upgrade to led it will be with a high quality unit but for now my t5's will do me fine.
 

Snik66

Member
Jul 13, 2011
14
0
Tasmania
ill start it off, i have used metal halides led and t5's.
i started off with metal halides when i first started. they put out a nice amount of light although my tank couldnt keep up with the heat. i also didn't like that i had very little attinic supplementation. i was running two 150w shopfitting units with 20k generic brand bulbs. i then moved onto cheap leds, i found the colours under the cheap leds were decent but certain corals didn't like it, when i changed tanks i moved to an 8xbulb 39w t5 unit. filled with ati bulbs. i have been getting great colours under this and its easy to change the colour temp just by changing one bulb. although i do miss the crisp light of the halides/led. also the t5's produce zero shimmer effect on the sand bed.
i do also have an illumimagic mc45 blaze led unit over my frag tank. coral colours are looking great under this the same as the t5's and the growth rate is also great. this is running off the same water as my display tank.
when i do eventualy upgrade to led it will be with a high quality unit but for now my t5's will do me fine.
what LED would you upgrade to if you where to upgrade ?

Thanks
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
Some of the good brands are illumimagic , maxspec, vertex
But I would go with illumimagic , really happy with the quality of the unit over my frag tank
DIY is always a great option to
 

Coastie

Member
Jul 16, 2011
14
1
Central Coast NSW
I am in the process of making a lighting unit for my 4ft, so far I have 2 150w MH with 14k globes and 2 blue led strip lights courtesy of Supercheap Auto.... $25 each and provide an awesome moon effect. Still undecided on flouro's maybe 2 Actinic T8 tubes and 2 white T8 marine tubes. Will also use cooling fans to extract heat from MH lamps.
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
I am in the process of making a lighting unit for my 4ft, so far I have 2 150w MH with 14k globes and 2 blue led strip lights courtesy of Supercheap Auto.... $25 each and provide an awesome moon effect. Still undecided on flouro's maybe 2 Actinic T8 tubes and 2 white T8 marine tubes. Will also use cooling fans to extract heat from MH lamps.
rather then using t8's why not make a DIY strip of royal blue 3w crees. this is what i would love mixed in with my t5's
 

Attachments

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
two of these sets would work well with the halides
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-146/12-LED-Actinic-Supplement/Detail

95$per kit
Kit comes with the newest CREE XP-E Royal Blue LEDs and a great heatsink! Get a discount for buying everything at once!
average life expectency of cree leds is 50 000 hrs so easily 5 yr +
 

Luke

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
1,048
237
Launceston
At the moment im trying to work out the best way to go,
im thinking either the
Maxspect Mazarra
or the
Illumagic Blaze
They both have there benefits , The maxspect has 5w white LED So it might be better for a taller tank like mine . After I've mounted it the light would be about 800mm from the bottom of the tank , its also 780mm wide , So i could have 180w blase for about the price of 240w maxspect , Im not sure the blase would be much over a very wide and deep tank ? , Maybe two 600mm Blase instead of one 1200 ?
Any ideas ?