Need Help with Lighting for 90 gallon

You could easily go both ways on this one... I am myself a T5 fan but that doesn't mean I am anti MH by any means.
Problem with this "debate" is there is so many misconcetions still and not enough knowledge from most people on both sides...

MHs on 90s... You could go with 175s or jump to 250s... 175s being SE and 250s having both options. If you were to go the MH route I would recommend some T5s in there for blueing/actinic and also for your dawn/dusk aspect... If you don't want to then go with a higher kelvin lamp or a Radium... Unless of course you really don't like blue.. But I will warn you if you go just 10,000k and no supplementals most lamps will burn yellowish..

T5s on a 90... They will easily PENETRATE THE 90.... Here is one misconception that I am referring to. There is still left over sentiment from a few years ago when MH was still king and T5 was just a little baby in the industry. MH guys said there was no way for them to penetrate the depth... OK lets think about this, lamps are better now... SLRs are better now and the understanding is better now... Back then with lower quality lamps and one parabolic reflector, I bet they didn't penetrate as far. Lets fast forward to today... MANY BIG TANKS ARE LIT WITH T5! People are proveing more and more that T5 can and will penetrate deep tanks and grow SPS well. I have a tank at home to prove it. My PAR readings rival a MH tank, but might be slightly lower... Oh thats because T5 can't penetrate right? No its because I have close to 200 watts less at least than a comperable MH lit 180 would have... Its the sheer wattage that is the difference. A photon of light is a photon of light regardless of what's producing it!!

You could easily rock a 90 with 6 lamps or 8... Whatever you can fit over it. A Tek 8 lamp would barely fit, the reflectors would pretty much cover the entire tank but the fixture itself my overhang a little.
A Solar Flare while pricey will go a great job on the tank as well... If you have the money ATIs Powermodual are pretty sweet also.

Ok, long enough post but in closing I want to stress that I don't think T5 is the only way to go, I just want people to realize that it IS A WAY TO GO! Its not MH or the highway

Good luck on the upgrade!

 

I have a Tek 8 bulb over my 90 gallon and it works perfectly.
My corals are growing well and I even have a clam on the bottom that seems to be doing great. It does fit over the tank with no overhang but just barely. From all the reading I have done IMO it comes down to a coin flip as long as you buy quality fixtures and get enough watts you will be fine.

 

Well if this helps you any better i am replacing my 3x250 mh and 2x165 vhos with 10 60 inch t5hos Thats on a 180

 

Uh oh.... Here I am with mh's posting after the non mh reefers. I would suggest mh's only cause thats what I have on my 90. I have seen some nice T5 setups over SPS corals and they grow nicely... so this would be supporting dr fragensteins lovely post. Quite frankly you can go either way.

I did read a little bit on heat issues in this thread.... YES you will have heat issues with metal halides if you do not take proper actions. I have 2 - de 250 mh's. I DO NOT have a chiller (but id love to have one). My temps rise to a max 82.5 degrees. I have lots of air circulation where at lights and water surface.

Bottom line is you need to way out the pros and cons of each types of lighting. Both T5 and MH's will support the reef your lookin to setup.

 

thanks for the posts , i recently found the deal i am looking for , the guy has a 90 gallon tech tank with stand and light fixture. it's an outer orbit with 2x150 mh with 4x50 watt t5's . does that fixture seem adequate for a 90? i am going to put a 4 inch dsb , so that should bump the corals up higher , but ... whats your opinions? thanks all for the help

 

Unless you are getting a smoking geal I would most likely pass up the 150's.... But that is me.
Well, what do you want, coral wise? Think LONGTERM(I know its hard )

 

I originally had 150's on my 90.... but upgraded to 250's. 150's will be fine for lps and softies. You can get away with sps but I would use 250's with sps.