Possibly upgrading to 75 in the summer

[Musicmanmoses]

Hello! So far, I've loved all the help I've obtained from the wonderful people on this site! I'm more than likely going to be moving into another apartment when summer hits and saltwater has me so smitten that I'm thinking of selling of the contents of my freshwater tank (75 gallon planted discus tank) and moving the 40 into this 75. Right now, I have an aquatic life 2 bulb t5ho with a 6700 and roseate bulb over the tank. I mostly have lps and softies at the moment and was wondering if I could swing getting another 2 bulb fixture (for 4 bulbs total) and switching the current fixture to 10k and actinic bulbs. Would this be enough light to keep softies and sos corals in a 75? Thanks soooo much for your help!!! :Cheers:

 

[slm32123]

I don't think it would, unless you have everything about 3 inches from the surface. I have a 75g with 8x54w T5s, and I HATE IT I couldn't even keep any SPS or even LPS for that matter, no matter where I placed them. Before anyone asks me about my water quality and everything, it is all perfectly fine.

But IMHO, only 4 T5s won't work. You would really really be pushing it.

 

[BL1]

I agree, you'd need a 6-bulb T5 fixture with individual reflectors for a 75.

 

[slm32123]

or you could go LED :)

 

[Musicmanmoses]

Sadly, I cant afford the size of led's needed... I have 2 par38 bulbs and a 2 bulb t5ho on my 40 breeder right now. The aquatic life fixture currently on my 75 has individual reflectors. So I would probably need a total of 6 bulbs to keep softies and lps? That seems excessive... Thanks!!!

 

[slm32123]

How much can you afford to spend on lighting. Trust me, LEDs are much better, not only for the cheaper electricity bill, but also because you don't have bulbs to replace every year (and thats stretching it out) especially when you figure youll have 6x54w T5s to replace every so often, which are about 20 bucks per bulb. You are figuring at least $120 per year in bulbs, on top of the couple hundred for start up.

So if you figure about $550 for a 6 bulb aquatic life fixture. Plus about $600 for 5 years of bulbs, unless you replace them sooner like most people would recommend. Thats just about $1200. Plus electricity for all that time
Where as you go with say, 2 Innovative Marine 92w Skkye Light which is what I am looking at doing for my 75. You spend $1200 up front. But you end up spending only half the cost of electricity for the same 5 years.

Not to mention how much space above your tank you will save. How much easier it is to get into the tank with the smaller fixtures, etc. etc. I could go on forever just about

Just my 2 cents.

 

[slm32123]

Oh and with LEDs you would easily be able to keep SPS as well.

 

[Musicmanmoses]

I definitely can't afford to drop 1200 at once, lol!!! I'll keep looking into it more... Thanks for the replies!!!

 

[slm32123]

I was mainly just using those fixtures as an example. There are cheaper options out there. Especially if you are really handy, you could do a DIY LED build. Rapidled.com is pretty good, and so is reefledlights.com

Just email some companies with LED fixtures to find out what would work best for your set up and what you want to be able to keep in the future, not just what you have now.

 

[Musicmanmoses]

Upon further investigation... how do ecoxotic panorama fixtures compare with the skyye? I could take money out of savings and pay myself back...

 

[slm32123]

If you would like me to I could do a little quick research and find out the basics, such as PAR and things like that?

 

[Musicmanmoses]

Naaaaaah, you've helped me a lot so far. I'm not planning on switching everything over until the summer, after finding a new apartment. Plenty of time to plan!!! Thanks soooo much!

 

[slm32123]

I will talk about what I noticed quickly about the Panoramas first, and the Skkye second.

With the Ecoxotic Panorama Modules.
Well, the first thing I notice that I do not like about the ecoxotic fixture. On their website there is no information on PAR output so you can't judge with that at all, which is a major factor in determining what corals you can keep.
Secondly, you would need at least 10 of the modules just to match the wattage (you would be 6 watts higher than the 2 Skkye lights.)
Third, the panorama modules are only 1 foot in length. So figuring you have a 4 foot long tank, that is about 18 from front to back. and you have 10 modules, you will have to play around to figure out how you need to position each module to get the best coverage.
Fourth you are going to NEED a canopy just to mount the lights to. unless you spend extra money to build a housing for the modules.
Fifth, One year Warranty.
Sixrh, One mode, on or off
Seventh, you have no built in moonlights (extra money for moonlights)

With the Skkye LED Tablet Light:
Firstly, on their website they have PAR read outs for every single one of their fixtures. The 92 watt fixture which is what you would look at for a 75g, They show readings for a 2 foot square area, and at 20 inches of depth(the bottom of a 75g), you will recieve 100-150 PAR, which will support all your LPS, softies, and some lower light SPS. ALL THE WAY AT THE SAND BED!
Second, it comes standard with an on the tank mount, which is very simple looking, and you don't have to have a canopy to mount the lights in. and can be mounted on rimless tanks, or framed tanks.
Third, it has a quiet fan, so you are guaranteed it will not overheat.
Fourth, One year warranty.
Fifth, Individual reflectors for every LED
Sixth, 3 modes, Moonlight, Dusk/Dawn, Daylight(all lights on)


With the Ecoxotic, you are looking at $1100 for the 10 modules, 4 transformers to power them, and 3 three way splitters to hook up the modules to transformers.

With the Skkye, you are looking at $1200 for 2 fixtures, which you know what the PAR outputs are on them.

 

[slm32123]

It's alright, I love reading about this stuff. Only took me about 20 minutes to get all that information real quick for you.

 

[slm32123]

whoops, Just realized I looked up the panorama modules instead of the fixture aha!

Basically all the same information since the fixture is just 5 of their modules packed into one package.
But you will have to buy mounting hardware with the fixture. It ends up only saving you about 70 bucks, and if you go with the Skkye you know what PAR values you will get

 

[Musicmanmoses]

it's all good, lol the same holds true for 5 modules / one fixture!!!

 

[slm32123]

Well I hope I covered everything you needed to know there. But I would still do more of your own research. You could buy one fixture now, and then the second when you get ready to set up if you decide to go LED. I have a 92w skkye I am looking to sell right now. Its brand new. I won it from a marine depot giveaway

 

[Northstar24]

Ecoxotic fixtures are nice on shallow tanks, but I believe the 75 is 24 inches deep

You could cover a 4 foot tank with two of the AquaIllumination Sol units (I'd sugguest the blues)

The unites run $400 a module now after a price decrease, add a controller ($80) and a hanging kit ($35) and you'll be able to keep anything you would want to keep for under $1000

If you upgrade in the future, you can purchase additional AI modules to finish your tank out