Quick lighting question

Ah, ok. I couldnt find anything on their site about exactly what type it is. Im looking at the 8x54 watt nova extreme fixture. Ill pass on the PC, as I want at least T5.
 
If you can swing the price get a T-5 fixture with an individual reflector for each bulb. That is the only way you will get good PAR at any appreciable depths.
 
Unless your really into calculus and DIY both and want to design your own reflectors where your using an individual parabolic reflector for each bulb and tube your usually best dealing with prismatic lenses with one for each bulb, or even just a gutter type reflector. With a parabolic reflector you must have your bulb at a specific distance from the reflector and the distance varies upon where you want the most intense light focusing. With the prizmatic lenses or gutter there is much more room for flexibility without the problems associated with parabolic reflectors. Most cheap lighting reflectors will use what they call parabolic reflectors, but they put all the tubes in the single refector. A parabolic is made for focusing from a single source to a single targeted focus.
 
What brand t5's come stock with individual reflectors?

The one im looking at now is a parabolic reflector, unfortunately its all i can afford. If i wanted decent lighting it would cost twice the amount the tank +rock and sand cost me :(
 
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:bounce: Reeffreak is the person with all the T-5 knowledge. I do halides and only use other lighting as supplemenatl lighting for viewing pleasure, so the PAR is not usually a factor. I get all the PAR I need from the halides for coral growth, but use lower K values than most people like for viewing so I add Power Compact lighting for color viewing adjustments. I am considering T-5 as supplements if I can get good reputable opinions on the ballasts used in a fixture I am considering. With T-5's I can probably drop my halide wattage down by 40 percent in display tanks, where corals are just maintained and growth is not expected or even encouraged. Well reflected T-5's are really the only intense lighting approaching Halide capabilities, and in some situations (shallower water and smaller tanks) they are superior to halides, at least efficiency wise.
:^:

cgoodman381 said:
What brand t5's come stock with individual reflectors?

The one im looking at now is a parabolic reflector, unfortunately its all i can afford. If i wanted decent lighting it would cost twice the amount the tank +rock and sand cost me :(
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Consider The Current Nova Pro's(6x54w) over the Nova Extremes(8x54w) Goodman.The Pro's have two less bulbs but have individual reflectors.Like Mc Crary mention IR doubles the light output,consider the 6 with IR like running 12 without IR.

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

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+18700&pcatid=18700

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

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+18700&pcatid=18700

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.
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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.
 
The pros have individual reflectors, which doubles the light getting to your tank. In essence, 6 pro bulbs = 12 non pro bulbs I guess.
 
Bifferwine said:
The pros have individual reflectors, which doubles the light getting to your tank. In essence, 6 pro bulbs = 12 non pro bulbs I guess.
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I get what hes saying, but what I'm asking is if its really better. He said it, so it must be so? :p Thanks for the info as well, guess ill just have to make a decision!
 
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).
 
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.
 
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fatman said:
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.
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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)
 
McCrary said:
Dude, why a geophysicist?
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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.
 
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