all in one halide fixture recommendations?

[gerry45]

when my t5 bulbs need replacing I would like to go to an all in one halide fixture with actinics and moonlights.

the coralife aqualight pro looks nice but are the pc actinics any good?

any opinions on this fixture or any others?

my tank is 24x24x48 120 gallon.

 

[hooked82]

I would suggest going with VHO actinics. Will get a lot better blue supplementation with the halides. As far as an all in one kit, before I bought my new tank that already came with halides and 6 vho actinics, I was looking at the Current USA Outer Orbit fixtures. Not sure how good they are but they seemed like a good fixture. Personally I would just buy reflectors with the sockets and MH bulbs and a couple sockets for the VHO actinics and DIY. Hope this helps.

 

[Crown Royal]

The Aqualight Pros are fine, but you are stuck with PCs. Go with the 250W version if you want more flexibility.

Along the same price range are the Current USA Outer Orbits. They've recently come out with MH/T5s but only at 150W.
http://www.current-usa.com/outerorbithqit5ho.html

A little more industrial looking are the Hamilton Protostars and PFO equivalents with a mind-boggling array of ballast, bulb and reflector combinations including MH/VHO combos. VHO provides the most actinic "pop" with the old URI super-actinic bulb, but T5s are catching up with the UVL super-actinic. The cost savings of a 4' 54W T5HO bulb vs. a 4' 100+W VHO bulb is obvious.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/tlist/halide/hoods-fl.php?category_ID=73
(Canadian prices)

A little higher up the scale is the Maristar from Sunlight Supply. Very nice MH/T5HO unit which will get nicer once the Maristar II is released soon.
http://www.oceanaquatics.com/index.php?cat_id=233&catname='HQI T5 Combo Fixtures'
(Canadian prices)

Then there's the Aquactinics line of MH/T5 units which are also very nice and comparable to the Maristars.
http://www.aquactinics.com/Store/Lighting_Systems.htm

Above that is the European stuff - think Mercedes and Ferrari equivalents (along with the prices):

Elos (http://www.eloseurope.com/index.php...ry_id=14&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=76&lang=en)
Aquamedic (http://www.aqua-medic.com/products/...ghting&product=Ocean Light T5/MH Combo Series)
Giesemann (http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/tlist/giesemann/giesemann.php?category_ID=109) - Canadian prices
and Sfiligoi (http://www.aquariumobsessed.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=AOCA&Category_Code=SFLX) - Canadian prices