Anyone with a tank over 200 gallon using T5

yes -- running T-5 only on a 275G SPS tank. Getting nice growth on several brightly colored pieces.

i'll try to post some updated pics this weekend... but, might not get them up before the Holiday . . . you can look in my gallery for one or two OOOOLLLLLLDDDDD shots.

I ran a 600G system with 250W DE MH for a year before a job-related move, and rana 150G with 400W SE MH... I really prefer the color temp and spectrum of the T-5 to the MH. I also love being able to move the bulbs in the middle of the tank's "day" without worrying about getting burned. Most of all, I love the $$$ I'm saving on the lower wattage bulbs.
 
i have the bulbs resting on acrylic half-round "feet" that are directly on top of lucite covers i have on the tank (which are also on "feet".) So, I'd say roungly 2" above the water.
 
I would also like to know pch90265's lighting set up...perhaps a pic?? I will be working on a 180 upgrade from my 125. Just an FYI i am running a Tek 6 bulb T-5 54 watt ea. 4 foot fixture on a 6' tank. I stripped the fixture of it's hood for better air flow so now it looks like a retro. My canopy is enclosed, I have 6/ 3" fans for cooling. 3 pulling in 3 pushing out and the fixture is about 4" above the tank. Currently i am mostly softys and LPS.
 
i'm running Sunlight Supply TekLight T-5 "all in one" fixtures. My tank is 83" long, so I have a 4' fixture butt-jointed to 3' fixture. Turns out 4' and 3' are each a little shy of the stated footage, so they are about 82 3/4" end-to-end. Both are 6-bulb fixtures.

As far as bulbs, I'm running 2x 10000K, 2x 12000K, and 2x 20000K in each [from memory i think they are called "white," "blue+," and "actinic blue."] I intersperse them as... W, B+, AB, W, B+, AB ... in each fixture. The combination gives a pleasing overall white-ish blue color temp, with the pure actinics giving an incredible POP on all of the fluorescent pigments in the tank.

--SM--
 
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