Worth it to upgrade my current fixture?

[89Foxbody]

Hey all. Right now I have a DeepBlue Solar Extreme 4x24 t5 fixture over my mixed reef. I have a BTA, lots of zoas, lavender shrooms, red shrooms, blue and green ricordeas, gsp, green monti cap, green acro, lepastrea, kenya tree, hydnophora, and a yellow sinularia. Up til now I've had great growth on my softies with cheapo zoomed bulbs. I'm upgrading to ATI bulbs this coming week.

First question...will the switch to ATI bulbs give me better coloration and growth? Is the PAR appreciably higher?

Secondly, I'm seriously considering getting the 24" Odysea fixture with the single 150w HQI, 4 t5s and moonlights.

Would it be worth it for the livestock I currently have? Or will my current lighting sustain my coral in a healthy way?

My tank is a Marineland 37g. It's 30"x12"x24" tall.

Thanks in advance.

[salty child 79]

I would not get anything that is made by odyssea. I am not familiar with the DeepBlue fixture but if it has individual reflectors I would say you are WAY better off sticking with it. Even if it doesnt have individual reflectors over each bulb you are still ok. The ATI bulbs will make a BIG difference over the stock bulbs also, so you will most likely see better color and better growth from all four corals.

[89Foxbody]

I heard similar things about odysea fixtures in the past but I've been hearing that their quality has increased greatly over the years. Everything is individually switched, it has cooling fans, individual plugs, etc. I'll do some more research.

The DeepBlue does have individual reflectors. It's a great unit for a great price, excellent features.

I'm excited about the ATI bulbs and the difference they will make.

[Netofficer3710]

I will post a thread with pics later under my new ati bulbs. I was amazed by the difference. Use blue plus for your actinics! These things rock!

[89Foxbody]

Ya I got 2 Aquablue and 2 Blue Plus. Just waiting for them to come in now. Pretty excited.

[RotaryGeek]

Nothing wrong with oddysea. 90% of the people who leave bad comments about them have never owned one. I had one for a year or two and other than changing the bulbs, it's was stock and great.

[Netofficer3710]

You will love the blue plus. They brought out colors I didn't know my corals had!
I will be trying these fixtures out soon too.
just make sure you get one with a common bulb size because i was eying one fixture till I realized the 20" bulbs weren't carried by most places.

[89Foxbody]

Good to hear. And yeah I will have to get the 24" fixture as my tank is 30" long. Another thing I didn't consider...Pretty annoying to have the fixture sitting on my glass rather than on the rim of the tank. Another thing is the center brace would block quite a bit of light from the MH bulb in the center of the Odysea fixture. Not sure how much of a negative effect that would have though.

[Netofficer3710]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2063321
This will give you an idea of the coloration from the blue plus.

The light is however bluer than it looks in the pics.