Lighting a 75 gal

48" Metal Halide T5 Lighting Aquarium Reef Marine 716W | eBay

I just bought one of these, just waiting for it to arrive in the post.

Will do a review when it arrives, seems cheap enough

 

Tek is an excellent brand. A four bulb unit will give all the light you need. I suggest hanging the fixture near 30" above the sand for a mixed reef. The six bulb unit will give you more options for spectrum control. Either will do you well.

 

im in your position right now... wishing id started with MH and not the 4-T5s....

 

or LEDs

 

One thing you need to watch out for is some stores don't give you bulbs with the fixture or if they do the bulbs could be low quality.

 

Get the TEK from reefgeek.com and you get the bulbs with it for $321, spend the extra $21 and choose these bulbs:

ATI Blue +
ATI AquaBlue Special
ATI Purple Plus
ATI AquaBlue Special or ATI Blue +

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...t_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_(Black)_by_Sunlight_Supply

Reefgeek is awesome to order from and their prices are great. Absolutely spend the little extra to get the bulbs.

HOWEVER, TEK fixtures don't come with mounting brackets or a splash shield, you will need to spend $58 on the brackets if yoiu're not able to hang the light. The Shield is another $24. Some would say the shield is important so the reflectors aren't ruined by splashing others say you don't need it.

If that's too much over your budget I would look into a 4-bulb T5 AquaticLife fixture, they come with mouhting brackets, splash shield and also include a built-in timer and moonlights so you can run a dawn/dusk cycle and also run the moons at night. And they also come with stock bulbs. Those won't be as effective as the ATI bulbs though, prob get you by with soft corals but not SPS.

It'll cost $370, but that's a good price for what you get:

(select the 48" model from drop down)
http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticL...xtures-AquaticLife-AK01035-FILTFIT54U-vi.html

In this hobby it's def good to spend the little extra $, it will save you the headache down the line of wishing you got the "better" thing in the first place, trust me.

 

Guiterman89 has some brand new stuff for sale.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/sale/galaxy-ballast-selecto-o-watt-116661.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/sale/sunlight-supply-150w-pendants-116662.html

Would be perfect for your tank. I didn't do the math, but he might sell you everything for $300.

 

My 6x54 watt t5 grows SPS in my 90.

 

Great stuff he has there, just remember (to the OP) those 150w MH pendants will need to be suspended over the tank or put into a canopy. MH also runs hotter than T5's so keep that in mind also.

I run a single 250w MH pendant with a Galaxy Ballast and love it. My tank is kept in an AC cooled room or I'd have to get a chiller. Sunlight Supply makes an adjustable wiring kit that I also have which is awesome for raising and lowering the pendant with ease (if you go the hanging route).

 

I'm not sure about the quality but I see those odyssey fixtures on ebay all the time for really cheap. I was going to buy the 72" one for my tank for only $400 brand new but I went with LEDs instead and I'm so happy I did.