Quick lighting question

[lightcs4]

Originally Posted by reeffreak

If I'm not mistaken,the price for the Pro's is about $30 more than the extremes.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...pcatid=18 700

Note:there are better fixtures with better reflectors out there.Most don't come with bulbs like the Nova and are more expensive.Worth the added cost,IMO but not necessary.

According to the Two Docs site, 8x54 NEs are on sale at $386.99 (8x54). The NEPs are are $429. I would definitely go with the Pros for the small increase in price.

[cgoodman381]

sooo really? The 6x54 pro over the 8x54 non pro?

[Bifferwine]

The pros have individual reflectors, which doubles the light getting to your tank. In essence, 6 pro bulbs = 12 non pro bulbs I guess.

[cgoodman381]

Originally Posted by Bifferwine

The pros have individual reflectors, which doubles the light getting to your tank. In essence, 6 pro bulbs = 12 non pro bulbs I guess.

I get what hes saying, but what I'm asking is if its really better. He said it, so it must be so? Thanks for the info as well, guess ill just have to make a decision!

[lightcs4]

I recently did a lot of research looking for lights myself. I found a lot of reviews that backup Reef's assertions (and have seen many posts by Reef that show his knowledge on lighting, so I have a level of respect for his opinion on lighting). Also, the better the reflector the more par from the lights. The German reflectors (can't remember the name off hand) are stated to be highly reflective compared to most other vendors (again, this is from the research I did on lighting, not personal experience - your mileage may vary).

[fatman]

If you do not believe him I can send you drawings and equations showing why it is so. Reflectors are refocusers in essence. They are geometrically shaped to focus a beam coming from one place and refocusing it on another specific spot. This is easily done with single individual reflectors, that must only redirect one light from one tube. It is virtually impossible to get just one reflector under the conditions imposed by tank lighting enclosures to refocus the light coming from many different tubular sources. The Germans tend to utilize more engineers in industry than american manafacturers. We americans seem to use more of the by guess and by golley form of design in manafacturing. Engineering departments are usually the first to be cut back in industry and manafacturing. A vast majority of the merchandice sold in the pet and aquarium industry has never been evaluated by an engineer, much alone designed by one. Light refectors would best be designed by a physicist or even better a geophysicist.

[McCrary]

Dude, why a geophysicist?

[cgoodman381]

Originally Posted by fatman

If you do not believe him I can send you drawings and equations showing why it is so. Reflectors are refocusers in essence. They are geometrically shaped to focus a beam coming from one place and refocusing it on another specific spot. This is easily done with single individual reflectors, that must only redirect one light from one tube. It is virtually impossible to get just one reflector under the conditions imposed by tank lighting enclosures to refocus the light coming from many different tubular sources. The Germans tend to utilize more engineers in industry than american manafacturers. We americans seem to use more of the by guess and by golley form of design in manafacturing. Engineering departments are usually the first to be cut back in industry and manafacturing. A vast majority of the merchandice sold in the pet and aquarium industry has never been evaluated by an engineer, much alone designed by one. Light refectors would best be designed by a physicist or even better a geophysicist.

How about links?? I'm always up for learning something new. Id also be interested in your opinion on T5 bulb choice, if you have one as they are not your main lighting source. I may go with something close to the configuration the other gentleman used on that other site I linked to you a while back. (The guys in Southern America who grew mainly sps with T5's)

[fatman]

Originally Posted by McCrary

Dude, why a geophysicist?

Pretty broad field to try to nail down. Typically a Geophysicist is considered someone schooled in the Geo sciences. They cover the fields of geology, oceanography, meteorology and astronomy. The reason I would say a physicist or geophysicist is because they study things like conics sections and parabolas and such regularly in their fields and typically engineers and mathematicians usually cover it only briefly in college and do not pick it up a gain unless they teach or are involved in specific areas of research where it is necessary. Very few engineers are called upon to design amphitheaters or music halls where they actually design them using the acoustical aspects of parabolas or conic sections. The same reflection angles (geometry) of the sound waves are mathematically the same as with light waves (hence reflector designs). In geophysics and astronomy etc. the mathematics used are the same branch of mathematics used with escape velocities and gravitation effects of passing by large bodies in space etc. The scientists that can tell you exactly how fast and at what angle etc, etc, an object has to go to escape the earth or moons gravity, or enter an orbit or exit an orbit at specifics heights and landing or splashing down in specific spots are using a lot of the same math that would be used to design good lighting reflectors. They use it commonly and could on a napkin design a great reflector for reef tanks. However, this is not math commonly used by regular engineers (civil, mechanical, structural, electrical), we would likely use a computer program that was written to do all the math.

[cgoodman381]

hmmm well Now i see this which is close to me. I already emailed him asking how old the unit is/how long ago the bulbs were replaced.
http://merced.craigslist.org/pet/723780134.html