t5 or mh, i can't decide......

[nahtanoj]

so the wife doesn't like the looks of my diy t5's, don't blame her. so should i buy a 24" t5 setup, or a mh. if i go mh, probably will be a 150w viper, i want to keep the clean look of the tank. so some pro's and cons of mh would be helpful, i've never had it before, and i don't want to have to get a chiller. thanks for any help guys.
jon
heres the tank it's going on.

 

[temec_lover]

get the solana mh pendant!!!

 

[ivgonmad]

MH, takes my vote.

 

[wwodyz]

MH will heat up your little tank! then youll need a chiller. ive seen t5s with great growth.

 

[pookstreet]

Get a pendant with both. The MH will give you the shimmer and the T5's can add the blue.

 

[coral diver]

If you dont want to add a chiller i would go with T5

 

[Kenfuzed]

Another vote for T5. After switching my former frag tanks to T5 I'm an official convert. Now running T5 only over my bowfront and love the flexibility of changing color without supplementation. Also a plus running chillerless.

 

[SoKaL ReeFiN]

You live in Point Loma, cool and breezy.. go MH. Get a 150w sunpod to keep the same look.

 

[Photobret]

T5 - I have recently switched and its awesome. MH was great but running a chiller sucked. I am using the Teklight system and it rocks. Make sure you get something that has individual reflectors. The new Current system claims this but they arent very good. Spend the money and get a good T5 system. Or find a cheap MH system and Chiller on the seller forum.

 

[d1hotblaze]

sun pod gets my vote i have one on my 24 AP ...same look as what you have plus white and blue leds

 

[nahtanoj]

i ended up getting a sunpod 150w, my wife liked it, so she bought it for me.
thanks

 

[Nanoreefbro]

Where did you get your sunpod from Jon? I'm thinking about getting one for my 24 gal JBJ Nanocube...

 

[pookstreet]

We need new pix please

 

[nahtanoj]

got it from tri-city tropical fish, in vista. it is a refurbished one, $149, looks brand new, comes with a 1 year warranty. i'll post some updated pics in a bit, dealing with algae at the moment.
http://www.tricitytropicals.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=19

 

[fishysmells]

Ok, this will be my first post and I thought this to be a good time to ask a few questions. First, someone mentioned mh pendants, do they add enough heat to need a chiller? Second, you went with the 150w, I read somewhere that for some coral you need 250w. I am setting up a 24" deep hex and was wondering if a 150mh pendant supplemented by 48w t5 retro (single reflectors) one 10,000k and one Actinic would give me all the light I need. Does your 150w seem to give you what you need? Thanks.

 

[nahtanoj]

my 150w is about 4" above a 20" tall tank and there is more than enough light at the bottom of the tank where my clam lives. my 150w mh raised the temp of my tank 1 degree, from ave. 79 deg, to ave. 80 deg. a 250w will raise the temp more. what corals do you plan on haveing, some do like more light than others, but if you put the "high light" demand corals toward the top, and the "low light" demand corals at the bottom, you will be fine, i have sps at mid level of the tank, it is fine. a 250w, IMO, will be a bit much, you will limit yourself to only high light corals, and risk damage to moderate/low light corals.

oh, and welcome to the forum. you will like it here.

here is a pic with my 150w going to give you reference.

 

[nahtanoj]

i will get an updated pic this evening when the lights come on, it looks different again, and the algae is 90% gone.

 

[fishysmells]

Glad to hear the algae is under control. Looks great. I thought that the 250w sounded a bit overkill. I dont want to be limited to anything I put in my tank. I figured with the t5 and the mh I would cover everything. I am sure there will be heat issues somewhere down the road so i am thinking of installing a Ice Probe in the sump (it is a uniquarium). It only will cool about 2 degrees but figure that and fans up top will compensate for the heat. The record high here in Fountain Valley is 86 so I figure that limiting my heat from the lamps and a little added security of the ice probe for $150 is reasonable. You think? Oh dealing with about 40 gallons.

 

[fishysmells]

Oh, and already diggin' it here. I am finding that it gets really stressful trying to gather all the info one needs without asking questions. Hope to be around a while bugging you guys with them as I set up my new personal tank!!!

 

[newnanoboy]

MH for me Jon !!!