Fixtures here by Wed, lamps and vent fan by thurs. I'm glad I left the 4 inch duct above the tank so all I need to do is wire in the fan.
I had to send 1 of my eb8 bars to apex to get 3 recepticles fixed as they had broken over the years. I have no idea when they will be done. I won't be installing until that happens.
Good luck chris. Dry curious too see the growth diff or lack of growth diff after the switch. I run radions now and have great growth but I was deff looking into mh instead of led. So I'm in on this thread to see if there is a diff in growth and color after having led on the tank for a few years
Chris, this thread is making me lean more and more toward going MH on my tank upgrade. I would love to find a 72" Current Sunpod 3X150; but I will more than likely DIY like you are doing.
Calciumbuf has halides that would work fantastically over a 72-inch tank he's selling the whole thing for 250 bucks. It's in the for sale threads. I would have smashed it up had I not already bought this setup. Just make sure he has the Galaxy ballast that came down to 250 Watts before you buy them
Heard back from neptune systems and my eb8 is toast. Might have something to do with when I arced 2 wires while they were plugged in. Headed out to get a new eb8 from a member today. I'll probably install Sunday morning
Got the new eb8, light bulbs, and bathroom fan. The fan moves a 100 CFM and is .7 sones. It's so quiet I might just have it run whenever the metal halides are on.
All are hung and fired up. The new system is 2 lumatek and 1 sunlight supply e ballasts. I was a little worried you might be able to tell the difference but you cannot. The reflectors are Lumen Max Elites. In the bulbs are 250 watt radium 20K. There is no supplemental lighting at this time. I may add some little moonlight just for fun. But I don't think the radium bulb really needs T5 supplementation.
A few things I had forgotten about from when I had metal halide previously.
1. The tank seems much brighter. And I don't mean light spill into the room as my cabinet is sealed and felt has been placed to stop any light spell (it's always been like this). I remember when I hung the soul-blues years ago thinking they didn't seem as bright. I'm sure it has something to do with how an LED doesn't spread light well.
2. There was a certain iridescents in my yellow tangs fins that have been missing but immediately came back. That makes me happy.
3. They really let you see every particle in piece of crap floating in the water too. I think I will start running a filter sock and active carbon again.
Guess I'm glad I never switched. Over the years I've collected a number of nice practically new MH fixtures of people getting out of MH or the hobby at fire sale prices. I could definitely see the value of LED for small tanks where it's a hassle to cool the tank, but I also would need to heat my tank in the winter.