Need help choosing!

Thank you thank you thank you!! Buuuut, there's only 96w total. I can get higher wat bulbs right?

No, you can't. However, WATTS is measure of POWER CONSUMPTION, NOT light output. Those 4 24W T5 lamps will produce a LOT more PAR for your tank then 96W of PC light could ever dream of. That fixture has reflectors that direct the light from all 360 degrees of the T5 bulb into the tank, a PC fixture at best, puts less then 270 degrees of bulb area into the tank, and that is only if you have reflectors for each of the bulbs, which I have never seen.

Have you ever seen a T5 fixture and a PC fixture side by side? The difference is staggering!

Also keep in mind that any slot where you place a blue bulb (acintic) that light does not help your corals at all. It simply makes them look better to your eyes by making the colors pop. So a 96W 50/50 bulb is not giving you the same PAR as a 96 W 10K bulb. But the colors of your coral will look better with the 50/50

^ beg to differ. There are new bulbs (cant remember exactly which off the top of my head) that make actinics with very good par these days.

I will look them up and post the info later.

But on a general basis 99.999999999% of acintic bulbs are not going to give PAR worthy of mentioning nor calculating.

The person posting this has admitted she is new to the hobby and having trouble keeping everything straight. So why make things more confusing. Also note that my post referred to PC lighting so please point me to a PC (not VHO or T-5) bulb with a Par that can sustain corals. Or to get more technical my post said "So a 96W 50/50 bulb is not giving you the same PAR as a 96 W 10K bulb" so please show me a 50/50 PC bulb that will produce the same par as a 10K PC of the same wattage. seeing as to how the OP stated she is looking for compact lighting in her first post. People really do need to relax, not everything has to me a technical showdown. Sometimes advise can be just that and need not make things more difficult for the OP to understand, or hijack their thread.

There is an exception to every rule, people keep reefs under HPS lighting, but it is not commonly accepted nor suggested. Just because something can be done does not always make it right for the situation or the reefer at hand.

You are absolutely right jojo. As far as pc lighting (and vho and normal output t5 lighting) actinic lighting has very little par, and even less when compared to heigher spectrum bulbs of the same variety.

I should have been more specific.

Very good info Jojo. You are spot on in your post. 99% of actinics dont give much par at all. T-5 ho lights are the only bulbs I have heard of that can, with the right brand, give decent par ratings on actinic bulbs.

Could you start a thread on them??

I am interested in checking out and discussing them, but don't want to hijack. Would be a great thread for those running T-5 HO's

Sorry jojo, I cant start a thread on the subject at this time. Wish I could. Would be a great thread for the site, for sure.

I have no first hand experiance. Just posting on what I have read from reputable people with the proper equipment to test par ratings on different lighting systems/ K ratings.

If I had the lighting system and par meter I would, but dont have access to either of these, and would prefer to start a thread on the subject with some first hand experiance.

Sure would be a great/informative topic though. Would be a great thread to have on the forum.

Wish I had the equipment to help with the topic.

Are you guys done? I now have a question about an upgrade light system for my biocube. But instead of asking a question for fear of starting another debate I'll just leave this like and ya'll can tell me what ya's think.

http://www.nanocustoms.com/product_i...products_id=69

Miz tanks, debate/discussion is what the board it for. This is how people learn and draw their own ideas. So please ask away and we can all try to help. If anything a debate helps you with providing two sides of the story or issue. You will find that in this hobby many people a passionate on many issues. It's nothing against you or 99% of the time the person one is debating.

It's just healthy strong discussion. Sorry if it gave you the wrong idea.