Lights - I get it now.

[ingg]

I'm a terribly stubborn man.

I could not conceptualize why t8 bulbs, with lower wattage and slightly lower lumens, would be better over my 55.

In an attempt to better fit the new home made reflectors, I stopped and happened to find daylight t8 48" bulbs. Replaced the t12's with them.

Holy Mother of God. WAY brighter to the eye, and in 24 hours what I thought was green rotala has pink tops.

I get it now. I will never argue the point again.

Now... all I have to do is build 3 canopies, two of which aren't square, and figure out bulbs.... ARGH. Because all of my other tanks are limping along with retrofitted pigtail bulbs in standard resin canopies....I'm thinking even glass tops will improve these a ton though, find myself having to clean the plexiglass separator thing constantly.

Figuring what what is worth spending the money on... priceless.

Figuring it out after you spent money trying to finagle your way through it... expensive.

[Jeff120]

Yes, sometimes trying to cut corners comes back to bite you in the ass! One thing not to scrimp on is lights! If you havent gone pressurized yet, you will, its only a matter of time

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

True dat true dat - true dat dat dat.

[ingg]

Only real issue with pressurized is doing it 4 times over, as all my tanks are in different rooms...

Once the big one gets set up, hopefully this year when the basement is finished... it'll be pressurized.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I thought the same thing about the HO T5s when they first came out. Now I love mine.

I'd say the first thing to never skimp on is substrate. That's the biggest pain to replace once the tank is setup.