GHL Mitras LX7 or ATI Powermodule...

[KJoFan]

Tank is a 150g 5x2x2 with only softies and lps currently. The plan would be a mixed reef ultimately, heavy on the sps. Assuming I can eventually figure out how to successfully keep sps.

Current lighting is 4x Mitras LX7's. I have no complaints, color is good in softies and lps that are in the tank. But, I can't help but see how many people advocate for a hybrid fixture, incorporating T5's.

I could pick up a used ATI 60" 8 bulb Powermodule to replace my Mitras and am considering it but...is it a superior choice over the Mitras alone?

Anyone with experience, or educated opinions?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Lots and lots of people have added t5's and love them.

Personally I had a very heavily populated sps tank (120g with mostly Acros). I tried 1 and 2 t5 bulbs and didn't like the look. The white bulb was too white and the blue bulb was too blue. I ended up sliding my led fixture a bit more forward over the tank and added a second led fixture (inexpensive 3w 50% blue/50% white) fixture behind my good fixture. The blues come on halfway through the 4 hour sunrise and go off halfway through the sunset. The whites are only on 50% during the 4 hour midday intense period. The tank looks deeper (front to back) with more blue spectrum at the rear of the tank. Shadows still exist, but they are considerably less than with just one fixture. And I have FAR more control over the color and intensity of my lighting than I did with t5's. But that's just me.

 

[KJoFan]

Lots and lots of people have added t5's and love them.

Personally I had a very heavily populated sps tank (120g with mostly Acros). I tried 1 and 2 t5 bulbs and didn't like the look. The white bulb was too white and the blue bulb was too blue. I ended up sliding my led fixture a bit more forward over the tank and added a second led fixture (inexpensive 3w 50% blue/50% white) fixture behind my good fixture. The blues come on halfway through the 4 hour sunrise and go off halfway through the sunset. The whites are only on 50% during the 4 hour midday intense period. The tank looks deeper (front to back) with more blue spectrum at the rear of the tank. Shadows still exist, but they are considerably less than with just one fixture. And I have FAR more control over the color and intensity of my lighting than I did with t5's. But that's just me.

Thanks for the input. as mentioned my current corals all have good color, but maybe what I'm wondering about is rate of growth. So many people say growth is slow with LEDs, and better with the addition of or switching to T5, but then again, what are we really measuring that by?

 

[Variant]

Thanks for the input. as mentioned my current corals all have good color, but maybe what I'm wondering about is rate of growth. So many people say growth is slow with LEDs, and better with the addition of or switching to T5, but then again, what are we really measuring that by?

While I am a sucker for GHL product, I'd say go with T5. I did and here's why... I'm no expert when it comes to SPS. Keeping water parameters such that SPS thrive is a good chunk of work as it is, so tweaking and working with LEDs was just another area I would have to toy around with. Until I have more confidence in my own abilities, I decided to go with the tried and true T5 method. This way, the only lighting concern is par and time of on/off.

Keep it simple and then experiment as you become more confident in your abilities.

 

[KJoFan]

I'm still heavily considering moving away from the GHL Mitras in favor of another fixture. Either an LED/T5 hybrid or back to my old MH/Reefbrites in the box in storage. I think my biggest reasoning is that T5 or MH or some combination other than ONLY leds allows for a larger margin of error in other areas/parameters. Seems like with LEDs, the window of success is narrowed a bit. Does that make any sense at all?