60 cube with T5 can I LPS?

beachpig

New member
I purchased a 60 Cube ( 24x24x24) and have a 24" 4 bulb 96W T5 light that I had. Question is, do you think I can keep LPS on the bottom of this tank such as Acans ect. I was thinking I could do a NPC tank along with a LPS. Appreciate all input and any suggestion?
 
I do not see why not. I have 6x 39W T5's and have a Acan on the bottom right corner of my tank that seems to be doing great. Since purchasing it 3 months ago it was grown five new heads.
 
Watts don't matter. If you have a cheap T5 fixture, you will be hard pressed to keep anything at 24" depth. You could probably keep stuff up in the rocks, no problem.

If it were my tank I would want a good 6 bulb setup on the tank to keep LPS. LPS don't need a ton of light but you still want over 100 PAR at the sandbed.
 
Hey,

Thx for the comment. The light has single reflectors and was purchased new for $240 some time ago. So the light is probably the best you can buy for a 4 bulb T5 unit. I was thinking of doing a LPS, NPC tank. This is a link to my light: http://www.aquaticlife.com/t5ho/index.html

Thanks for the response!

The best 4 bulb unit you can buy is an ATI Powermodule followed by the ATI Sunpower. Then you get into the Tek stuff and some other mid level fixtures. Aquatic Life are on the lower-mid level end of things.

I wouldn't try keeping any LPS on the sand with the stock bulbs. Just by switching all the bulbs out you could probably pick up 15-20% more PAR. ATI's are my favorite T5 bulbs to use. They are the highest PAR out right now and are a good price.

If you are serious about getting into LPS, I would add a 2 bulb fixture to get better coverage and better bulb combos.

For 4 bulbs I like running 3 ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Purple Plus. Might be a little blue for some but I love it. For six bulbs I like to use 4 ATI Blue Plus and 2 ATI Purple Plus.
 
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