Do I have enough Lighting for sps? T5s

[mcola78]

I can post this in the lighting forum too but figured I would post here as well since the tank will be sps dominated. I have always used halides so I am new to the T5 world.

Tank is 263 gallons (60L x 39W x 26H). Right now I have 9 T5s 60" (80W ea.) running on 3 Icecap 660 Ballasts over the tank, plus a single MH 250W 12K reeflux. The T5 are in order from back to front:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus
Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
250w MH
Fiji Purple
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus

The halide is giving off way too much heat. Can I keep sps with just the 9 T5s? Would you recommend a different layout/assortment of T5s?

They are 12" above the water level so a total of 38" to the bottom.

Thanks for your input.

 

[sminker]

add another set of T5's and you should be OK.

I had pretty decent growth with a 6x80 watt setup over my 180. just recently switched to 2x400 halide. probably gonna add 2-4 of my t5's to supplement.

 

[Mr. Right]

IMO it sounds like your lighting is adequate. I keep SPS on 4 bulbs. You seem to have a healthy light combo as is, and IMO I think the MH may be unnecessary considering that the bulbs are overdriven.