6 Lamp T5 good enough?

[Lhewie]

Im planning to get the Aquatic Life 6 Lamp LED's. Do you think this is good enough for my tank ? I have a 55 gallon standard size. I wanna keep some SPS. possibly Acros. but will be mixed with LPS.

 

[TimeConsumer]

That should work fine. You'd get better growth with a higher quality fixture like an ATI sunpower or powermodule, but it will work. Ditch the stock bulbs and get some ATI bulbs. 4 blue plus, a purple plus, and a GE 6500k would look nice if you a very blue tank. If you want it whiter replace one of the blue plus with a coral plus.

 

[TucanSam007]

Deff recommend the ATI bulbs! Look into the Sunpower or powermodule but if your on a budget the aquatic life are good, also the tek. You'll grow sps just fine with either

 

[Lhewie]

The reason why I can't get ATI sunpower because I cannot hang it on my ceiling.. changing the bulb for the aquatic life with ATI, will the growth still be the same?

 

[TucanSam007]

Just keep the sps higher up, with t5's its all about the reflectors to help punch more par deeper. If you do a mixed reef with sps up high and lps down low the aquatic life would suite you well.

 

[laredo300c]

Just my personal experience

I had a 6x54w aquatic life t5 system on my 120g. Changed the bulbs for ATI and never really liked it for my corals. Was never happy with it, switched to led lighting and am finally happy. If I had o do it over again, I would switch to an ATI fixture, before going to LEDs

If you haven't bought the fixture, skip it and just go with an ATI , or a tek, but i would skip aquatic life. Just my honest opinion

 

[Lhewie]

Just keep the sps higher up, with t5's its all about the reflectors to help punch more par deeper. If you do a mixed reef with sps up high and lps down low the aquatic life would suite you well.

My Tank will not mostly be SPS dominated. My Corall supplier mostly have LPS corals so it kinda works out for me i guess.

Any Bulb combo recommendation for a mixed reeF?

 

[fishgate]

Can you hand polish a reflector to make it better?

 

[daveydoodle]

Bump on the OP's bulb combo question. Posted the same question with no response. 6 bulb, 54 watt mixed reef tank bulb combo suggestion?

 

[TucanSam007]

Depends on the how blue or white you want your tank to look.
I like this combo so far: Gives a 13-16K look. I run the P+ and B+ as a dusk/dawn with the reef brites on though.

B+
P+
B+
C+
B+
B+

Search some of the T5 threads they have some great combos, deff buy an extra B+ or C+/Ge 6500k to play with though.

 

[TimeConsumer]

4 Blue Plus
1 Purple Plus
1 GE 6500k

 

[Lhewie]

Okay, i think i might have decided...

If i buy the Aquatic Life T5 6 lamp with ATI BULB, will it give same power as the ATI Sunpower?

Only reason being i want the Aquatic Life is because i can mount them easily..

 

[rtparty]

Okay, i think i might have decided...

If i buy the Aquatic Life T5 6 lamp with ATI BULB, will it give same power as the ATI Sunpower?

Only reason being i want the Aquatic Life is because i can mount them easily..

Nope. You will still be behind 25-30%. Get a Tek instead. Then you can choose bulbs from the get go.

 

[rtparty]

Can you hand polish a reflector to make it better?

No. Material used and the bends make a reflector good or bad.