Lighting Advice Please

[dbub]

Hello everyone I'm hoping you can give me some advice on my lighting. I recently purchased a 46 gallon bow front and the guy I bought it from gave me two light set ups for it. First- (what he had on it) a retro fit HO T5 39x2 dual bulb and Second- a 96x2 dual PC. My tank contains mostly soft corals although I do have some hard corals also. I have over a hundred pounds of LR in my tank so I can easily place corals high on the rock if they need more light. I thought about using both lights on my tank but there just isn't enough space to do that. Would one of these lights work better then the other or should I just purchase a new one completely. Look forward to your thoughts on this.
Thanks

[BLKBRDTA]

The 96w PC's may put out a bit more light in terms of PAR numbers, though heat will be their demise causing lamp spectrum's to shift to red much faster. The T5's will not yield as high of PAR results as the PC's, but they will last longer and have more of a steady lamp life rather than peaking then declining. The choice is completely up to you but if it were me I would stick with the T5's for now and save up for a nice 6 bulb T5 unit with good reflectors. Although personally, I would make those two lighting units fit over the tank for the time being. If you are just going to get rid of them eventually then they don't have to look good unless you plan on reselling them.

IMO
$00.02

[pogodzib]

I agree with everything Tony said, except that I would use the 2x96w PCs instead of the T5HO bulbs if you are only going to use one of the two fixtures. 2x39w T5HO bulbs aren't sufficient lighting over a 46 gallon bowfront, whereas the PCs would be if you are sticking with soft corals. Using both together would be much better. In the long run, you may very well want to upgrade your lighting, and at that time, you'll want to dump the PCs.

[dbub]

Hey guys thanks for your advice. After Tony replied I decided to tear apart my PC fixture. I'm in the process of combining the two lights and modifying my canopy so everything fits and looks good. I'll post pics of it tomorrow if I get it completed by then.
Thanks again.

[dbub]

I finished my new light set up this morning, well almost I still need to get a one new bulb. Everything turned out good and I think it will work and look really good. Eventually I will purchase a better one but for now it works.
my new light set up minus one PC bulb.jpg

my new canopy completed.jpg

[pogodzib]

It looks very nice Derek. By having all of the bulbs running together like that will allow you to keep many different types of corals and it should last years for you if you decide you can't afford or don't want to upgrade your lighting.

[BLKBRDTA]

Great DIY for your new setup, it really does look good fitted over your display with a nice blue color effect.
Glad you took the initiative and didn't hesitate or second guess yourself, exactly the right kind of attitude!

[dbub]

Hey guys. I just received my new bulb today so I took a pic so you could see the difference between the old setup and my new lights. It looks amazing now.old lights.jpg

new lights.jpg

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