Best lighting for 100x100 cube

[dangas]

Hi everyone!
I'm Daniele from Italy, i've been an aquarist for 10 years, but always had nano reef. My next tank is going to be 100x100x70 with DSB. My only indecision is about lighting.
I'd like to use T5 and Aquatlantis Easyled, maybe only deep blue easyled. What combination and number of both of them would you suggest me? i accept different ideas too.
Tank mainly for Acroporas.

Thanks!

 

[jda]

I would use 8 to 10 T5s and then put a few LEDs in between. I would let the T5s do the heavy lifting if you are going to focus on acropora.

If it were me, I would do a single high wattage MH in the middle... like 400w... then put some LEDs or maybe T5s around all 4 sides to fill in a bit. The reflector will be good in this situation.

100x100cm is not an easy tank to light.

 

[dangas]

I thought so too, but unlikely 400 w covers a 70x70 area maximum and it's a light that is dying in the near future. Maybe i'll take 2 ATI Powermodule 6x39w, so 12 T5 and 3 blue easyled bars, one at each side and one in the middle (this is not sure).

 

[jda]

I can cover 36x36" (90x90cm) with a single 400w MH, but the edges are kinda lower light. I just like changing one bulb instead of several and 400w is not that much to cover a large tank.

12 T5s is probably a good bet for success. You probably cannot do much better.

 

[dangas]

400w hqi + 2 T5 VS. 12 T5 + 2 easyled deep blue.
Who wins?

 

[jda]

Either. I mostly prefer MH because of less bulbs and I like the shimmer. I also live in Colorado where the nights get into the 50 degree F range even in the summer, so heat is a blessing to me and I really don't have to do anything to mitigate it for 10-11 months out of the year (and a fan works in July/Summer). I also really like some of the MH combos like 14k Phoenix HQI on m80. If you are thinking 400w HQI, then this is yet again probably 30% more output than a regular 400w MH setup. The Giesemann line of bulbs can be overdriven like this, but the 20k Radium cannot anymore - Radium changed something 3-4 years ago and they now blow up on HQI ballasts. HQI will be more like 440-450 watts.

If MH suddenly disappeared (which is not going to happen), then I would be plenty happy with a large-count T5 setup.