Looking to go back to T5, specifically powermodule hybrid

[Smite]

I have a standard 180g sps dominant reef tank. 72x24x24 but eurobrace leaves 18" opening up top.

I'm missing the results and growth structure I got with my ATI sunpower on my last system which has me looking at the powermodule hybrid.

I've found 2 used units and could use input from powermodule users. (Also any known problems i should look out for or tips in general are welcome)

Both are 60" fixtures one is 4 bulb and the other 8 bulb. My tank is eurobraced and while I'd love to have the ability to dial in color with more lamps I think it may be over kill and overlap my eurobracing. My concern with 4 bulbs would be shadowing (paet of my reason for swapping) and not enough par down low.


If anyone has ran both the powermodule hybrid and metal halide led hybrid id love to hear opinions on that as well.

Thanks

Matt

 

[Big E]

You need a 6 bulb......would be perfect.

The 4 bulb can work but you would have to make sure you keep corals mainly in that 18" width. The main issue is that once the corals get larger you're not going to have enough lighting to satisfy the corals.


I'd probably opt for the 8 bulb and only run all 8 maybe 4 hours or some type of staggered setting. I wouldn't let the eurobrace define your layout......there will still be enough light penetration.

 

[Smite]

Thats what I was thinking Big E. Too bad 6 bulb is special order, sounds like the perfect fit

Thanks for the input.

Matt

 

[jda]

I would get the 8 as well.

I run a 250w MH through a 5/8 glass brace on an old Oceanic Tank and my acropora grow under there almost as well... PAR is about 15% less when clean and about 20% less when I let it get dirty. You can make this work, plus, the extra bulbs will also send light back into the middle of the tank and not just straight down into the glass.

 

[blstravler]

I run a 6 bulb 48in ATI Sunpower on my 425xl with a reef Brite lumi light pro plus and couldn’t be any happier. Don’t really see the need to have the ability to dim the T5’s.

 

[jda]

I run just MH if you have any questions. I do not run a hybrid because I like to go all-in and do not really believe in the best-of-both worlds paradigm in life in general. Plus, I do not care for the trick/black light look on my corals and they look plenty good under just MH bulbs. On a standard 180g, 3x 250w in good reflectors can cover everything, everywhere. We do not run the AC and with fans, the tank stays cool in the summer and the MH heat is a blessing the other 10 months. Drop on a couple XHOs or Orphek bars at night if you like the look - you cannot really see the when the MH are on, so why waste the energy and lifespan.

All of this said, I have and would run T5s again no problem. I have traded with Ed and can verify that his corals and his opinions are legit.

 

[Smite]

I run just MH if you have any questions. I do not run a hybrid because I like to go all-in and do not really believe in the best-of-both worlds paradigm in life in general. Plus, I do not care for the trick/black light look on my corals and they look plenty good under just MH bulbs. On a standard 180g, 3x 250w in good reflectors can cover everything, everywhere. We do not run the AC and with fans, the tank stays cool in the summer and the MH heat is a blessing the other 10 months. Drop on a couple XHOs or Orphek bars at night if you like the look - you cannot really see the when the MH are on, so why waste the energy and lifespan.

All of this said, I have and would run T5s again no problem. I have traded with Ed and can verify that his corals and his opinions are legit.

I was looking to go this route as well. Heat is my only concern but i do have central a/c for summer. For me I needed to run the diffuser to get a realistic shimmer with the radions, so Im blasting 5 lights at 85% so roughly 680w total so it wouldnt be a hige difference in consumption.

I've been talking with someone about buying a spectra fixture, I love how sleek that fixture is. Would those reflectors be capable of lighting the tank with just MH? Curious if I could run those euroquatics bulbs for night viewing in the t5 portion with pure MH during the day.

What would you consider a good MH reflector that is available new? I was looking at the lumen bright DE 250w reflectors, have a pretty clean look to them.

 

[jda]

Spectra is an amazing fixture and it has T5 in it too. Lumen Brite DE will use DE bulbs, which are cool, but can only run on m80 ballasts. Single ended stuff is good too. The Hamilton fixtures are good... so are Hamilton ballasts. Spectra is ready to hang and looks good... you might have to build something if you use the LumenBrites or Hamiltons. Spectra is kinda hard to find since they are not being imported right now, but you might get lucky.

The form factor of a Spectra or a Sunpower are nice.

The MH need no supplement to grow and color every type of coral that you can imagine. The night time and supplement thing is for you.

Just a Vornado fan over the top of my tank keeps the temp under complete control - it does create some fan noise and humidity is no issue even on 100 degree days in Colorado where 15-25% humidity is normal and we have to add humidity in the winter. This problem is totally solveable if you want to, or if people want to move on to Radions, then they see it like a quadratic differential equation to be solved while in outer space wearing only a bathing suit.

If you live in Florida, or can talk them into shipping...

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