Which Light? Hamilton Cebu Sun or ATI T5

[Fishdisease]

Hey Everyone,

I have a 6' long 180 and I'm looking for a light. I'm deciding between the Hamilton 6' Cebu Sun (3 x 250W) and the 60" 8-bulb ATI fixture. I can get them both for the same price (I already have 3 MH ballasts I can use with the Hamilton assuming they still work) but I'm not sure which one to get. Heat is a minor concern but shouldn't play into the equation (I'm in a basement in eastern Canada where it only gets 85F+ a few weeks). I want to keep a mixed reef and not be limited in what I can have growing in the tank. I want things to thrive, not just survive.

I'm leaning towards the ATI as it's a plug and play and the Hamilton will require me to wire in the ballasts (but that's not hard, just an annoyance). Also, the cost of the ATI bulb replacement is much lower as it's just 8 x T5 so ~$250 (ATI) vs $~420 (Hamilton).

Is the ATI suitable and the Hamilton overkill? Or is the ATI minimal and the Hamilton superior? Nothing but good reviews on both so it's hard to decide.

 

[Bpb]

This purely boils down to aesthetics. You will have comparable results health wise. Yes the Hamilton will be hotter and more expensive to run and re-bulb, but at the same time, you cannot get t5ho to look like MH, I don’t care WHAT bulb combo you use. So pick your poison. If I made 3-4x as much money as I do, I’d get MH T5HO combo like that. I’m absolutely happy with my ati sunpower though. I think it’ll actually give you a bit better coverage despite being shorter because it is a wider fixture