Upgrading .. Maybe

Sunshine

Sunshine

Reef enthusiast
We are thinking about upgrading from our 90 tall to a 220 reef ready. Our LFS has a used one, he's went from asking $600 to $475 now. We have been debating about this for some time. I was wondering if I can use my current lighting. It's a Nova Current 6 bulb. I would hang it since it obviously wont fit on a 220. I don't mind the sides not getting any light cause I'm not going to be putting rocks on the side. I'm trying to get away from replacing everything to go to a bigger tank. I know I will need a bigger sump, pump and skimmer. The lights are the priciest of everything.
 
I don't think that will be enough light for a 220. You are more than doubling the size of your tank -- those lights are fine for a 90, but would really be pushing it on a tank the size of a 220.
 
That's a bargain for a 220g, if you can manage to sell your existing lights and pick up some slightly used lights for the 220g you're still way ahead of the game.
 
That's a great price for the tank. I would jump on it and just wait till you save up for new lights. The 220 is not only 2' longer than the 90, it's also 6" wider(18 vs 24) and 6" taller(24 vs 30). Those lights would only work for corals directly under them and high up in the tank.
 
Check and see if your LFS will let you swap your current tank and lights for 4X 250 HQI pendants. It would be pretty much an even trade.
 
They will cost you more. Add up the watts on your current lights -- compare that to the watts of 4 x 250 watt MH = 1,000 watts. Your electric bill will say what you are charged per kilowatt (1,000 watts) per hour.
 
If the 220 is deep, then T5s won't penetrate as well as MH, but you could still use them. You will still need to use a lot more watts for a tank that size.

That was one of the biggest reasons why I was so happy to get rid of my 240. My electric bill was between $400 and $500 a month.
 
You would need a good sized array of t5s but they would probably work with some high quality individual reflectors.

The only 72'' t5HO only fixture I found was 12x39w(438watt) total. Thats barely 2watt/gallon. On such a deep tank it would really be stretching it. I don't have a large tank, or much experience really but the numbers are pretty convincing to me.

Have you considered
Odyssea Metal Halide System

They are out of stock now, but give them a call and they can tell you when they will be back in stock.

I have one of their 150W pendants and it has run flawlessly since I got it running 8 months ago.
 
Sunshine said:
Do they cost more to run versus florescent ? My electric bill is thru the roof. Or is florescent not the way to go ?
Click to expand...


I've always ran MH...my electric bill has went up 100% since I set up my tank. :D I didn't know it my wife mentioned it to me the other day.
 
rwynn said:
You would only be running the MH 4-8 hours a day so keep that in mind when calculating costs.
Click to expand...

No... Not if they are your only lights. I don't know anyone that runs a reef tank with only 4 hours of light a day. Even if you have actinics supplementing the MH, running lights for 8 to 12 hours a day is average.
 
Different folks....lets agree on 8hrs then? A lot of the local reefers around here have cut it down to as little as 4 with no negative results......guess it depends on what sunshine is keeping.
 

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