Who wants to help me pick out equipment :)

[Dana42078]

me personally. I'd go with a ATI fixture and MP40's if money is no object.....but thats jus me...

 

[Sir Alex]

i would go with a metal halide light..i payed $179 for a 250w m h light.with blue moon leds..new fixer...but thats me..

Yah that's another choice. Halides can make a really nice look. I find that sometimes the florescents make the tank lighting too uniform throughout. But then there's the heat and power consumption problem...

If you want halides this would work: Odyssea Metal Halide System -- and you can't beat the price.

 

[SarahSmile]

Thanks Sir Alex, that is a great price. Odyssea Metal Halide System
$120 less than the Nova T5. Is it better?
Dana, I'm not sure what an ATI fixture is; I'd love if money were no object tho :) I'd like to be under 300 on the lights...so far this week I've spent 300 for the tank and stand, 190 for the skimmer, 90 for the powerheads, 50 for more rock, and I still need a heater and sand and water....
What's the consensus, the Odessa metal halide or the Nova Pro T5? I feel like my brain hurts from researching, reading reviews, searching for prices and deals.

 

[little_fish]

Personally, i like t5 better because you can get more color combos, the tank wont run as hot (not really a big deal though, easy solution with a clip on fan) and they also cost less to run. But you wont get the shimmery effect with t5.

Also those odyssea systems are kinda junky. I know they have fixed a lot of the bad stuff about them, but i still keep hearing that they arent as good and people keep having to upgrade parts on them.

 

[d2mini]

I prefer a metal halide and t5 combo.
The mh gives you the shimmer and IMHO is the best quality light, closest thing to the sun. The additional t5's will give you the benefits little_fish mentioned. My setup was a daylight colored MH bulb and then blue T5's to balance it out and give me a real blue color at dusk/dawn when the mh bulb was off. You put them on separate timers.

 

[SarahSmile]

Thanks Little Fish, you saved me from another mistake.
I ordered those 2 1400 powerheads you recommended can't wait to see them in action!
The Nova Pro 6 bulb that you recommended has great reviews and I'll go with that and be done with it. What's 350 bucks more at this point?? I've been looking at other individiual reflector T5 lights but the Nova Pro seems to be the most highly recommended.
The lights running hot is a bit of an issue to me so I want to avoid that, so I don't think the MH are for me anyhow. I like to keep the house at a nice 80 degrees year round and the biocube overheating forced me to crank the air all summer....
Thanks for pointing out the unit Sir Alex, it's fun to look at other options, I guess that's the fun of this hobby and forum and building your own tank.

 

[Sir Alex]

If you want a nice MH fixture you could look in to this: Aquarium Metal Halide Lighting: AquaticLife HID/T-5 Fixture with Lunar Lights

Edit: Nvm...

 

[Sir Alex]

I prefer a metal halide and t5 combo.
The mh gives you the shimmer and IMHO is the best quality light, closest thing to the sun. The additional t5's will give you the benefits little_fish mentioned. My setup was a daylight colored MH bulb and then blue T5's to balance it out and give me a real blue color at dusk/dawn when the mh bulb was off. You put them on separate timers.

Do you run a chiller?

 

[Sir Alex]

This is a comparison of T5 from MH.

Here is Biff's beautiful tank running on the current novas:

As you can see, it has very even lighting throughout the tank.


Here's BL1's tank running on the odysseas:

You can see the shimmer effect.


I hope I didn't brake any rules by doing that...

 

[SarahSmile]

Do you run a chiller?

No, I do not. All I have right now is the 14 gallon biocube and an empty 60 gallon

 

[SarahSmile]

Great pics Sir Alex, thanks for posting them-they look so different...

 

[Sir Alex]

No, I do not. All I have right now is the 14 gallon biocube and an empty 60 gallon

Actually I was asking d2mini. He has just about every cool gadget out there.

 

[SarahSmile]

Actually I was asking d2mini. He has just about every cool gadget out there.

OH, gotcha...how bout Vortech powerheads d2??

 

[Sir Alex]

OH, gotcha...how bout Vortech powerheads d2??

Yup he has those too. They're the best you can get but very expensive. Everyone who has them loves them.

 

[Dana42078]

I'd beg to differ that a MH is the closest thing to replicating the sun but not gunma start a debate. U can google ATI fixture or go to my build thread and find it. Best t5 fixture IMO. Geismann is overly priced and didn't I say mp40 powerheads? Isn't that vortech?

 

[Sir Alex]

I'd beg to differ that a MH is the closest thing to replicating the sun but not gunma start a debate. U can google ATI fixture or go to my build thread and find it. Best t5 fixture IMO. Geismann is overly priced and didn't I say mp40 powerheads? Isn't that vortech?

She was asking d2mini if he uses vortechs...

And I don't know how close MH is to sunlight, and I don''t know much about LED, but T5 doesn't seems to create natural looking light.

 

[Dana42078]

You don't know much about anything, jus saying. One MH bulb is only one part of the light spectrum. With a t5 setup you can use diff bulbs for diff wave lengths and hit diff colors that a MH can't....thus replicating the suns spectrums better. Like I said I'm not gunna start a debate.

 

[fastrd400]

You don't know much about anything, jus saying.

:fechten2:

 

[Sir Alex]

Err, okay...

 

[Dana42078]

I could have worded that better. Don't mean to hurt feelings but it unnerves me when ppl speak on subjects they aren't the smartest at. Not saying I'm all knowldgefull about lighting but I know enough that a MH isn't replicating the sun better than a 6 bulb t5 combo that's for sure....