Ideal lighting for a 125

[jbrunken]

I've got an orbit 6x96 PC over my 125 gallon. I'm fairly happy with it for now, but I can see a day coming with I want to upgrade to something a little better. I know that T5's are more efficient and MH's are great with the nice ripple effect that provide, but there are so many choices out there it's hard to make heads or tails of it all.

So... I'd like to throw out this question:

Given that

1) I don't want to break the bank on the purchase of the lights.
2) I don't want to break the bank with the monthly electric bill
3) I want to have lights that perform well
4) I want to have lights that provide a nice "hue" to the tank.

If you had an AG 125G 6' tank and you were running under the same constraints, what type of lighting would you pick?

Also, how long would you run the lights per day?

I know that these are kind of general questions, but I'm curious what others would do given the same situation.

-JB

[Omar H]

If you could accomodate 2X250 HQI's over your tank, that would be your ticket. Less light watts than what you currently have, maybe less cost in replacing bulbs (only 2 Vs 6. HQI's in the 10k version may average 100 dollars, depending on where you buy).

That's what I would do. My tank was run for a lot of time with only 2 MH's, then 3, and now is back to 2 since I took all the LR out trying to kill the polyp infestation I had.

JMO

Omar

[Blown 346]

If your 125 is the 6 foot tank I would get 3 250 watt halides for it, otherwise you will have a huge dark spot.

I myself love my halides, and would go with nothing but that. I run the lights for 12 hours a day.

I have the 14K AQUA COOL bulbshttp://www.aquariumlight.com/product_info.php?dbid=664

I also bought there halide canopy setup with all the goodies, there prices are reallydecent and are great to work with. Look into it.

[jaeden]

Went with 6x60 inch T5s on my 120 aga 80 watt a piece , still in the box so don't have an opion on them yet but did alot of research , main reason for getting them good light, different types of bulbs give you different lighting effects they don't run as hot as metal halides (less evaporation) , very efficient in running costs , only have to replace bulbs 9 months - a year hope this helps good luck

[mg426]

I like the halides for sure. They just look so cool to me.