150, 175, 250 Advice. I need Guidance so I'm Praying to RC
 

Ok. I like Soft Corals, Monti's, Leather's, Anemones. I'm NOT a HUGE fan of SPS, Hard Corals, Or much of anything that Looks like a Elk Horn.

My Current Lighting is 4X 96 Watt 50/50 Pc Actinics from Hamilton Technology. Great Lighting but its not Penetrating enough to keep all my corals on the sand bed alive. The Kenya tree isn't fully open because its lacking light I think.

I have a Standard Drilled AGA 90 Gallon. Yes 24 I inches Deep. I have a 1.5/2 Inch Sand Bed.

Corals,

1 Kenya Tree
Buncha Assorted Zoo's
1 Leather
1 Shroom


Before I even ADD any more corals or before anyone yells at me They were all frags, left overs, broken pieces from other reeferrs tanks.


I need Advice on Lighting Here are my options and reasons.

1: Odyssea 760 Watt + 6 Moonlights 379 Shipped.
2X 250 Watt - 4 X 96 Watt Actinics and Everything on an Electronic Ballast. From my research I see that I will probably want to CHANGE the ballast to get the most out of my stock bulbs OR Change the stock bulbs to Phoenix 14K's for 60 bucks each.

Over All Brand new I will need to Spend probably another 250 dollars to change ballasts or bulbs or both. I think that this is too much light. Way too much. It will DEFINATELY require me to have a chiller and is over kill I think for my tank. I dunno if im wrong but im new. Also The Energy Consumption would be off the chain.

2: Current Sea/Cora Life - 2 X 150 Watt Metal Halide + 2X 96 Watt Pc Actinic and 4 moon lights. (another reefer) I'll trade my MTC Skimmer for it and Purchase a TurboFlotr instead. (I'm not too crazy about my mtc skimmer)

I like this setup because it comes in a housing with fans its name brand the bulbs are cheap and easy to find and I think the penetration would be great. and its electronic ballasts. It comes with the feet and it looks like a solid unit. I can use it with or without my tanks canopy. I do NOT know if it will take care of my tank though. I like the montis that make a shelf and can grow off a cliff like.

3: Retro Fit dual 175 Watt (4 Month old bulbs) on an ice cap ballast and 2 36" VHO's ( Dunno the Watts)..

I like this because its a little more watts than the 150's but I hate it because it does not come with moon lights and that its Retro. I'll have to run wires in my canopy and I won't be able to use the lights without my canopy. I will also have to work out my own cooling system.



I don't know what to choose. Please Help me. I'm beggin here.

bump

try this

[url]http://cgi.ebay.com/Current-Orbit-PowerCompact-Light-48-384W_W0QQitemZ140195904137QQihZ004QQcategoryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

thats the same setup i have now from a different manufacturer.

A lot of times retro is the way to go with a canopy. The fans/vents on fixtures are often on the ends of the unit, and those ends are going to be pretty tight to your canopy. Even if they're vented off the top they could be close. Looks like you're thinking of buying used, but if you go new you can save a good sized chunk of change by going with retros.

For cooling, pick up some 4" fans and secure them to your canopy. This way too you can get the fans YOU want and make sure they're quiet - you're not stuck with whatever noise the fans in the fixture make. Coralvue makes very quiet fans with thermostats that automatically regulate the speed the fans runs at. In my canopy I have 5.5" between the tank top and my MH's and almost 6" for my T5's. That's way more room than I'd have if I'd gone with a fixture.

Same goes for moonlights - you can purchase moonlights pretty inexpensively. I got 3 from Drs Foster and Smith for about $60. They just screw into the canopy and all link together - one cable for power.

I felt the same way when I started looking at lights - wanted a fixture to make things easy and clean. But once people started explaining why retro is the way to go if you have a canopy, I changed my mind pretty fast.

175's would be the best IMO. You will have to be careful with your bulb selection to make sure you get good light penetration to the bottom of the tank, but with actinic supplementation that's not much of an issue. I would sway towards 10k bulbs to get the PAR.