Lighting Decision

I'm upgrading to a 90g soon and i'm starting to research about my lighting options.  The lighting will be going in my canopy.  I currently have T5HO which has been good but I was thinking of going MH or maybe even LED.  I've followed a few links on here regarding LED's and the results seem mixed.   Do LED's offer the glimmer that's always talked about with MH?  I'm a little concerned about heat if i go with the MH.  I'd probably try to purchase a fixture and then mount it in the canopy.  Would the fans supplied in the fixture be enough to cool?  Let me know opinions.  I guess I could also just the 48 inch version of what I have which the Nova Extreme Pro.  This would be the cheapest option.

T5 or MH would be the best choice. I wanted to go T5 but i did not find any good deals so i decided to go MH 2x150W they look bright and going to supplement with 2x55W PC Actinic for a 75G.

LED's are nice but are still pretty expensive at this point. You also don't have much in the way of color combination besides white and blue. I personally haven't seen an LED tank that I liked the color combinations.

I have a 90 gallon and i use MH. If I were to re-do my tank today I would go with T5. You have better color combos and options. Bulbs are a little less expensive and you get good growth. Granted you don't get the nice water shimmer, but that's kind've a minor thing.

IMHO....to get the best of both worlds (cost, color, growth, and shimmer) go with a Nice t-5 fixture, then retrofit a quality LED strip with it.  The LED strip will grant you the shimmer, the t-5s will grant you the color and growth, and heat won't be an issue.  However, this setup is mostly for those who are extremely worried about the shimmer....T5s are enough by themselves...

I have personally seen LEDs and they are beautiful and produce less heat and save a ton on power costs.  You will either have to make your own retrofit kit or pay a ton for a fixture since they are still a new tech and haven't had a chance to become super affordable.

I personally have a fixture that is 2x250MH - 4 T5HO(48inch) - 8moonlight that I got from www.aquatraders.com for $320 shipped.  I love the fixture except for the heat the metal halides produce(in the winter its nice and saves me from turning on the heater more often)

There will be many people who say Odyssea brand products are cheap crap and they were right at one point in time.  I found this website and did my research on the brand.  Older posts dating back to 2006 reported fires and melting issues due to the magnetic ballasts instead of electronic which they now use.  But now its 2010 and I feel Odyssea has come a long way in lighting.  I have had my fixture for about 1.5 yrs now and it is still going strong.  I also bought a skimmer and have been pleased with it.  Even considered doing a review on the product within the forums for others to see.

In addition to this it cost 1/3 less that comparable products and comes with decent bulbs.  I ran my bulbs for over a year and have kept softies, lps, sps, and a clam with no deaths what so ever(120 gal fat).  The issues you will hear most is that the ballasts die after a while but the great thing about this is that if they do die there are IceCap ballasts that are a perfect fit and can be swapped with no issues.

From what I have read people will buy this unit, replace the bulbs with higher quality bulbs and replace the ballasts with icecaps and still spend less than other full fixtures.  So if you are going to use metal halides I would consider this option.

I don't personally have a bunch of money to spend on lighting and if I did I would have gone with a professionally built LED or MH setup but since that is not the case I went with Odyssea.  I think it all comes down to the lighting you prefer first but then the money you are willing to drop.


Just my 2 cents.  Pm me if you have other questions.



Edited by ninja_brandon - September 10 2010 at 5:12pm

I would go look at alot of tanks and buy what is pleasing to your eye.