Maxspect extreme g2 160 watt

Well I am planning on upgrading the light in the next month or so. After going to the store today I love th.e maxspect unit. I am planning on grabbing two of them, he's giving it to me for 1500. But since I'm going to be shelling out that kind of money is this my best option. I like this unit over the orphek 156's because of the 4 15 watt LEDs. But what are some opinions? Tank is 48x24x24. Tank is sps and lps.

 

$1500 dollars for fixtures for a 4 foot tank seems a bit ridiculous to me.

 

Well they're top of the line led which I won't have to replace for 10+ years. In this hobby you get what you pay for and cheeping out always costs you more in the end.

My current fixture is 2 250 watt mh and pc lighting. You do the math for bulb replacements and cost of a new fixture over same time span

 

If you think about it. Replacing 2x250W MHs with 2x160W lights, assuming your running them 10 hrs per day, at $0.12/kw hr, would save about $790 over 10 years, in electricity. And, if you replace your MH bulbs every 9-12 months, that's 20-26 bulbs. If your buying average price, MHs, what that, about $70 each? That's about $1680-$1820. So, your at $2470-$2610. Therefore, you'd be saving about $970-$1100 over 10 years. Personally, I still am not sure they will really last 10 years. In theory they should, I think it depends on the build quality really. Maxspec seems like one of the better ones though. Also, they are modular, so if you upgrade tanks, you can add units, you don't need to replace the entire fixture. This is true of some MH lights, such as pendants, but not all. The MHs may get better par depending on the fixture, but then the initial cost goes up too. Either has plenty of PAR though. The calculation above assumes the MH is free, which obviously it isn't so the cost of the fixture needs to be factored in. I've left that out though, since this varies so much.

Compared to T-5s the maxspecs are probably closer. You'd probably need about 6-8 T-5s over a 4' tank to get the same PAR output. So, the watts would be about the same or maybe a bit less. If we go with 6, you'd actually use 78W less per year, so, you could actually save about $342 over 10 years with the T-5s. However, if you replace the bulbs yearly, that's 6 bulbs per year, at say, $30 each shipped? Which is $180 * 10 = 1800 -342
=1458. So, you'd be slightly ahead with the T-5s. Of course a T-5 fixture isn't modular, so you could not upgrade it; you may sell it though. Also, the leds have some dimming features and ability to change optics etc.. So, between the two, it's probably more of a personal preference. The leds probably have a bit more PAR than a 6x5 led fixture, but either is sufficient for the tank. Again, this calculation ignores the initial cost of the T-5s, so that should be factored in, for whatever fixture you would compare it to.

In reality, we pay a lot for lights regardless of the method, don't kid yourself regarding how much you actually spend

 

exactly my problem is my mh fixture is burning through bulbs in like 3 months now, so i need a new fixture.

The cheapest fixture id buy would run 600. so factoring that into the equation plus bulb costs and energy costs the led is far cheaper and more efficient. The biggest thing i like about these fixtures and how customizable you can make them, the different optics kits you can aquire. plus the 4 15 watt led multichips are amazing. they each can be controlled with built in timers and schedules and more. and as m2434 said you get what you pay for

 

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have about making the switch!

 

honestly though, do you really think u would still be using that fixture 10 years from now? technology changes and equipment changes. It is nice to know that it "can" last that long, but chances are you wont use it that long....