TEK Elite vs ATI sunpower T5 advice!

[xmjxflipx]

Hey guys right now heres what i got.

I have a 46 bow tank full of favias, alot of sps and zoas and chalices. I do run a Nova extreme pro 6 bulbs t5 fixture. Its a great little fixture but im guessing most people that run t5 know that the reflectors they use arent that great, and so i get ok growth on my sps and chalices. Im happy with the fixture i have but later on i will want to upgrade my lights within a couple months. I have heard great things about ATI and so i was more leaning towards that fixture except i honestly dont want to hang a fixture cause my room is somewhat space limited and itll be hard to get a ladder to try and do it.

Anyways ive heard about the new TEK Elite with active cooling now coming out next year i believe and i wanted to hear if u think the TEK elite will be comparable in PAR to the ATI sunpower and any opinions or information regarding which fixture i should get.

 

[Ike]

With chalices and favids be careful getting really powerful T5 fixture, they'll bleach easily and sometimes will never adapt. The bulbs are the worst part about the NEP, have you replaced those already?

 

[DFason]

I have been using my Sunpower for 9-10 months now. It works great, puts out tons of light and looks great. From the looks of the new TEK fixture it looks just like a Sunpower.

I have a few chalices and lords that I put on the corners of my tank so they wont get nuked.

Choice is yours. As for hanging the ATI I just use a DIY PVC holding device thats sits on the top of my tank. May not be the best looking but it works!

-Dave

 

[JNye]

i would do nothing. That fixture you have is fine and the only increase in growth you might see is in SPS, and in a 46 bow, too much sps growth can become a problem. I would save the money, unless you plan to use the light on the next tank. JMtho.

 

[mojo]

Honestly I would agree with poo. I have ran a tek and now have the ATI sunpower. I like them both. And the new TEK fixtures are nice and will perform really close to the ATI fixtures. I have done par test on them both and the old style tek wasnt that far off from my sunpower. However, I do have trouble keeping things on the sand bed that dont need mch light as I ll bleach them out. I have par of over 340 in some places on the sand. I leave my daylights on for 5 hours. A ton of light. I just yesterday switched out some lights to lessen the amount of par. I have taken out two ATI blue plus and replaced them with uvl super actinics. a little different look and less par. I keep a good amount of sps and they are doing great. If its the 6 bulb NEP and not the older 8 bulb with one reflector you will be fine. just make sure you use good bulbs and change them out on a regular basis and you will be fine.

They say you can run a 18 months on the bulbs. Honestly I would still change them at a year or so. Zeo guys change theirs at 9 months but I think that s a bit of overill.

Good luck , but unless you are just wanting to upgrade.you will see an improvement on some things but you can overkill it pretty quick.

Mojo~

 

[chk4tix]

I just picked up a 6x80 ATI sunpower fixture for my 150g build. I would have to say that the quality is a lot higher then on the TEK 8x54 fixture I have on my 120g. I was interested in the new TEKs' with the active cooling but they do not have a 60" fixture. Also the price difference between the TEK and the ATI isnt really that big if you are already planing on dropping $400+ on a light, what is another $100 or so?
Anyway, on of the major differences I can tell from my regular TEK and the ATI is the quality of the reflectors as well. The reflectors are also coated with silver to increase the effectiveness of the reflectors.

 

[mojo]

I like my ati for sure.

 

[holdyourlight]

i just bought a sunpower for my new 125G build.........its a 72" long tank and i went with the 60" sunpower over the 72" constellation because i didnt want to deal with the 14 bulbs and the extra $$

my tank is basically all LPS and i am scared about bleaching them with the powerful sunpower

i plan to hang the light fairly high, but i will still have a very powerful combo of bulbs, (5 blue plus, 1 fiji purple)

not to hi-jack here but any good tips for not bleaching out my corals? i plan to employ the screen method as well as hanging the fixture higher than normal.....

 

[xmjxflipx]

i was going to ask the same thing .....where do u keep your chalices if u have them holdyourlight in ur tank?

 

[xmjxflipx]

the only thing i would be concerned is the chalices.....right now the chalices are about 12" from the bottom of the fixture. Pretty much my light combo is exactly like holdyourlights but yea i would like to have some good growth on my sps like acros and montis...

 

[amay121]

I have a 10bulb over a 120. Almost killed a chalice of mine, but now that it's under the shade, it seems to be recovering a bit. If things are going ok for you with the Nova, I'd say keep it and just use that extra money to buy new toys/corals.

 

[holdyourlight]

i dont have my sunpower yet, but now i am scared that its gonna be too much light for my LPS dominated tank

 

[Ike]

i dont have my sunpower yet, but now i am scared that its gonna be too much light for my LPS dominated tank

JUst hang it higher, keep the photoperiod down, and be good about placement and you should be ok.

 

[holdyourlight]

JUst hang it higher, keep the photoperiod down, and be good about placement and you should be ok.

i had no problems with bleaching out corals with my 6 bulb tek (not elite verison)

is the sunpower really THAT much more powerful than a regular TEK?

again-sorry to hi-jack but i think this question is relevant:nerd:

 

[Ike]

i plan to hang the light fairly high, but i will still have a very powerful combo of bulbs, (5 blue plus, 1 fiji purple)

not to hi-jack here but any good tips for not bleaching out my corals? i plan to employ the screen method as well as hanging the fixture higher than normal.....

Have you seen that bulb combo in person? That will be a ton of blue and would look horrid and really to me...

Go slow with removing screens, maybe one layer every few week and watch how the coral react after each layer. If you really want all that blue you may want to substitue a couple blue+ for a couple actinics.

 

[Ike]

i had no problems with bleaching out corals with my 6 bulb tek (not elite verison)

is the sunpower really THAT much more powerful than a regular TEK?

again-sorry to hi-jack but i think this question is relevant:nerd:

No, it's not going to be a big difference, bu perhaps enough of a difference to have more problems... So the tank is lit by a Tek light now?

 

[xmjxflipx]

well i heard it can be a big difference i think the sunpower uses true individual parabolic reflectors and the tek only uses parabolic style i dont think they are invidual. Sunpower has active cooling compared to the tek which increases light output.

 

[holdyourlight]

Have you seen that bulb combo in person? That will be a ton of blue and would look horrid and really to me...

Go slow with removing screens, maybe one layer every few week and watch how the coral react after each layer. If you really want all that blue you may want to substitue a couple blue+ for a couple actinics.

I have been using this combo for over a year

It is about as blue as a radium halide

almost everyone who see's my tank cannot believe i run this combo and it looks white with a hint of blue to the eye

 

[xmjxflipx]

the KZ fiji purple is a white bulb but has a little actinic look to it to help balance out the blues.....its a really good combo and no drop in PAR since blue+ are a high par bulb.

 

[Ike]

I have been using this combo for over a year

It is about as blue as a radium halide

almost everyone who see's my tank cannot believe i run this combo and it looks white with a hint of blue to the eye

I've seen people run similar combos, 5x blue+ and 1 aquablue which would actually be a little whiter than your combo and I couldn't stand it. Nothing white about it to my eye... Light your house with that color light and peoples teeth are glowing and you'll be able to tell when people use too much laundry detergent:tongue: Hell, I ran 4x blue+ with a aquasun and aquablue and still thought that was too blue. But, everyone perceives lighting differently and some like a ton of blue...