T5's vs. MH

[!v@n]

Mine are 2 400w halides, I am gonna put a fan on each side of the canopy. We're gonna build a tall canopy to keep the lights up away from the water as much as possible.

[KT-150]

im not too concerned with the shimmer effect. I'm more concerned about my electric bill. I'm gonna be running a combo MH's and PC's

if your worried about electricity, then 2 X 250's would be sufficient to light your tank. 400's may be overkill.

[!v@n]

maybe later on I will get some smaller ones, I got a killer deal on those so I'll use them for now

[KT-150]

maybe later on I will get some smaller ones, I got a killer deal on those so I'll use them for now

nice. but your electricity cost will offset you "killer deal." I would also ditch the pc's for t5's since PC's are very inefficient.

[mazilla]

I use PFO reflectors on my tank. My only complaint is that because I keep them low to the water surface, there isn't a whole lot of spread and consequently my corals end up with very pronounced "light and dark" sides to them.

exactly, I just switched out a no name reflector for another pfo. I had to move some lights around and now I can see a huge difference compaired to the old one. It's like there is a spot light up there, it's kinda buggin me.

[SDguy]

Conversely, the T5's on my QT tank give everything a weird, "static" appearance, if that makes any sense

[DaveMorris]

I love my Lumenarc mini reflectors. In my opinion, that makes all the difference in the world. Both my 250w and 400w MH lamps are 12" above the water and it looks great.

[!v@n]

thanks Dave, that's what I was planning on doing, making like a 12" to 16" canopy and keeping the lights off the water. And also putting fans in it.

[mazilla]

I suggest using a good size clip on fan instead of computer fans. I have 750w MH in my canopy with just one 9.99 walmart clip on desk fan and it keeps the whole canopy cool to the touch, and helps keep my chiller turned off 90% of the time.

[!v@n]

yeah I remember you showing me that when I went over there Maz. I found some 4" fans that move 110CFM at Willy's electronics. I think two of those may work well.