Power Compact vs. Metal Halide

[avignos]

I am setting up a 90g reef tank and am on the fence about lighting. MH lights cost more and give off significant heat. My tank will be in the basement so the temp of the room will never get above 70. Will the MHs warm up the tank to the point of needing a chiller in this environment (lets assume 500W of lighting)? If I get 500W of PC will it impact what coral I can grow? Will clams and SPS coral grow? So much to learn!

 

[dwdenny]

Research and read. If you want SPS in a 90 I would not even look at PC's not saying cannot be done but you will be changing bulbs ever 6-9 months with MH about every 9-12 months little better but not much. Are you going to put the MH in a canopy of you going to use a fixture. I would say that at 70f ambient room temp you probably wont need a chiller. If temps do get a little warmer then liked that a simple desk top fan will help cool things off be evaporation. But before you go off and buy lighting really do some research on the type of system you want (ie corals and stuff) there really is a lot more then lighting. You have skimmers, water movement(which for sps in a 90g will be around 3150gph turnover)sumps, refugiums etc, etc, etc. really just search and read. I tis all confussing and what works for one persons tank may not work for yours and vice versa. Really look into what you want to keep and research the needs of those critters before just lumping every thing into a system then finding out that you still need $1000 worth of equipment. Sorry for the long post but to many people just jump in and their experince with SW aquaria is a bad one. HTH

 

[avignos]

I didn't include the rest of my purposed setup. I have been sponging up all the info I can get my hands on. Based on what I have learned I was planning on a sump(oceanic systems) with a protien skimmer (Aqua C, euro-reef, or ASM) and a calcium reactor(K2R maybe?). I plan on using an Ikami external pump but was thinking half the flow rate you mentioned. I am happy without stonies and clams but wanted to see if I was excluding them with PC lighting.

 

[dwdenny]

with PC not really but not too many people keep them under PC. A lot are switching to T-5 lighting and having good luck keeping SPS under them. The good side is they are really cool during operation but need to be vented well with two fans to keep the bulbs cool as they are pretty close together. Euro-Reef and ASM are good skimmers but I have never used one. Iwakis are great pumps and will last for year but I hear that some models are loud.(pardon the pun) researching is great I have been planning my system for the past year plus the slow cash flow for it doesn't help. lol sounds like your heading in the right direction for sure. Might want to try a DIY sump as you can do more things with it as far as customization. Here is a great site to look at too http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html

 

[avignos]

I havn't read much about T5 lighting, looks like it's time to do that. Thanx for the link.

 

[cheeks69]

I frequent a Portuguese reefing site and T5's are very popular there and across Europe and people have had great success keeping SPS with them, but you need a good reflector, the Sunlight Tek Light T5 Hood is really good.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...oduct_Code=SL-960045&Category_Code=SunlightT5

I decided to go with MH, I can keep anything I want and place it just about anywhere in the tank without worrying if I have enough light, only problem has been HEAT ! But in your case If the ambient temp is cool then fans will suffice IMHO/E.

 

[dapperdan]

PC seems to be old school, MH and T5 are are the leaders in Reef lighting.

DD

 

[dabears26]

What's up Avignos .I have had PC's for about 2 years when i bought them i was trying to save money so i spent 250.00 on a nice pc' system it worked great for your average softies like leather's ,mushrooms and polyp's and zoo's .But once I started to add some LPS or poryties ,galxeia and clams. I had a bad experince they would slowly start to fade off so I ended up selling them to a freind.Now i have got a HQI system it cost more in the beginning but will save in the end.AT least heartache...LOL..But i have just started a new thred ARE HQI as good..We will see I will be updating progress daily

 

[Jobiwan]

I had 8 96w pc's one my 180, I figured if I used enough they would be fine for sps and clams, the lighting was fine but they generate a lot of heat. I just sprung for a 3 x 250 hqi halide hood, the tank is much more temp stable now, with the glass shields not much heat gets in the tank. I also didn't like the fact that pc bulbs are real fragile and expensive (3 mh bulbs vs 8 pc's, your bulb replacement costs are actually less with hqi)