The best fixture without the HEAT????

[jerrybforl]

On my 100 gallon aquarium, I run two Coralife 4x65/55 watt bulbs. It keeps the water very hot. When summer comes, my apartment gets ridiculously hot! So my question is...what is the best kind of fixture to use to keep the heat down?

1. LED
2. T5

But I also need the fixture to give me a decent amount of light at the substrate. I want to be able to grow glosso and such.

 

[jerrybforl]

So I'm really thinking about getting the ATI. I have a few questions.

1. How cool does it stay? My current problem is the two coralife fixtures put off tons of heat, and it makes it very difficult to keep my apartment cool with window ac.
2. I would get the 48", but should I get the 4 or 6 bulb config? From the surface to the substrate varies in spots from 17"-21".
3. What color combos would look good?

 

[ShadowMac]

My ATI stays pretty cool, the controller has a temp monitor and it stays at 30-32 C. It packs a punch and to be honest the ability to control dimming and lighting schedules has had me confused about some aspects of lighting like how intense should it get and for how long, should I tier the intensities with a short high burst and the rest medium to low...the flexibility is amazing.

I've been using two geissman flora bulbs and two daylights. I think Tom uses a red and a blue in place of the floras. I've been considering only using one flora and the rest daylight. The white light give it a greener fresher look, imo.

 

[jerrybforl]

3Thanks. I hope to get more imput on this matter. I like to use several combos of bulbs. I currently have 9325 k, I think thats the rating, 6700/10000 k combo, and regular 6700k. My friends are telling me to get LED, but the flexibility, like you mentioned, of the ATI is very tempting.

The one thing I really like about LED is that the bulbs last forever. I don't really know a whole lot about them, and I believe that you can't really swap out bulbs like a T5. That's the major draw back that I can think of with LED.

Any more suggestions anyone???

 

[Mark Lem]

I'm at decision time for lighting for my soon to be delivered 190gal. I'm choosing between 2x36" ATI's, one 60" ATI, or a 72" 12x39w Aquatic Life (price is half what two 36" ATI's are). I like the idea of LED, but I'm not a DIY on lighting, and it seems like at this point in time LED manufactured lights are just too much geared towareds marine, and even then, the dust hasn't really settled out on them. Lots of variation of par, etc, between manufactured lights. I even read that some LED'ers switch back to t5, so there's too much flux for me to invest now in LED's. And the price is high. In two years time I would guess i would for sure go with LED's, but not now.

 

[Aquadream]

I found a different solution to the problem. I use 54W T5 HO bulbs on 28W T5 NO balasts. This way the HO T5 do not over heat ever and their life span is quite longer. The light spectrum does not change only the output is as much as the balast can provide.
My last aquascape was grown this way and it turned out fantastic. No temperature issues related to light what so ever.

 

[jerrybforl]

Yeah I think I'm leaning towards the ATI fixture. LEDs, good ones, are really expensive. I'll keep asking around and see what anyone else has to say about it. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Htomassini]

Jj get the the led. I recommend the Ecoxotic freshwater panorama pro. I have it at the store. They use only 60w and pack a punch. In using led on a highlight tank with great results. Hardly any heat and they will last 3 to years.

Come and test drive them at the shop and use the par meter on them. I have several large tanks to measure. A 90 and a 120.




Henry tomassini
www.theplantedaquariumstore.com
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[jerrybforl]

Thanks Henry! What days are you there? Let me know.

 

[Htomassini]

Ahhh. That's a hard one to answer.

I think I'll be at the store next tuesday or Wednesday. I'll have to check.

Although Miryam has all the stuff she can hook it up. She has been working on her hardware.




Henry Tomassini
www.theplantedaquariumstore.com
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk