I am upgrading my lighting on the 5th of april and i decided to go with power compacts. The ones i was looking at were around $350. I will be putting these on my 33 gal reef tank. I forgot the company name but the light has 2 bulbs one white and one purple. Would this type of lighting be ok for a 33 gal. Again lighting is something i do not know too much about. Any suggestions?
power compacts
- Thread starter Nick540
- Start date
To be honest, could do with knowing the light make, model and how watts they are before i can comment mate...
Niko
Niko
Yeah I agree with Niko, need more info before we can comment on this. But at first glance, $350 for a PC fixture to fit a 33 gallon tank seems steep. I'd look around for a cheaper PC fixture or if you are looking to spend that kind of money on lighting I think you'd be better off with a T5 or even MH fixture.
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Niko
Niko
hehe, yeah MH would own over a power compact system but don't forget about T5's!! There are some very impressive PAR ratings being captured with these bulbs. Line 'em up across the depth of your tank and overdrive them with an Icecap ballast and you're keeping clams on the sand! 
T5 lamp PAR readings
OK, Here's the latest readings taken with the lamps running on a triad ballast. The numbers are only good for comparison here. Previous readings I took were with a different ballast and reflector so don't try to compare the two.
ATI
Sun Pro 357
Aquablue 336
Blue Plus 311
Actinic 137
D&D/Giesemann
Midday 325
Aquablue 324
Actinic Plus 264
Pure Actinic 157
AquaZ
Sun Pro 285
Ocean Pro 323
Blue Pro 266
Helios
Daylight 309
Super Blue 225
Current Sun Paq
Daylight 10K 272
Blue 252
GE Daylight 340
OK, Here's the latest readings taken with the lamps running on a triad ballast. The numbers are only good for comparison here. Previous readings I took were with a different ballast and reflector so don't try to compare the two.
ATI
Sun Pro 357
Aquablue 336
Blue Plus 311
Actinic 137
D&D/Giesemann
Midday 325
Aquablue 324
Actinic Plus 264
Pure Actinic 157
AquaZ
Sun Pro 285
Ocean Pro 323
Blue Pro 266
Helios
Daylight 309
Super Blue 225
Current Sun Paq
Daylight 10K 272
Blue 252
GE Daylight 340
na the guy at the lfs is just looking for money, ive seen $400 MH lights for sale.
What is the length of the tank, i could try to find a combination of MH and T5 or MH and PC, the MH for the white light and the PC/T5 for the blue actinic. An even better thing to do is to do a DIY, you could save litterally save hundreds if you make your own light fixture, you just need some craftsmanship, some aluminum reflector, ballasts, and bulbs and some other stuff, put it all together and voila.
What is the length of the tank, i could try to find a combination of MH and T5 or MH and PC, the MH for the white light and the PC/T5 for the blue actinic. An even better thing to do is to do a DIY, you could save litterally save hundreds if you make your own light fixture, you just need some craftsmanship, some aluminum reflector, ballasts, and bulbs and some other stuff, put it all together and voila.
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