enough lighting for zoas
- Thread starter kmax74
- Start date
killingseed
New member
i would try to 6 or 8 t5 on a 90.
650-IS350
Active member
Id go with all T5s bro...
heres my old bulb set up.. its totally different now. with 3500k reds, and adding purples soon.
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n230/delsol650/?action=view¤t=Picture.jpg
heres my old bulb set up.. its totally different now. with 3500k reds, and adding purples soon.
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n230/delsol650/?action=view¤t=Picture.jpg
gotbags-10
New member
depends on the length and depth of the tank. if its only 4 feet then i'd say your cool. i would deff put towards the top to get some more growth. u said if u had some pc's laying around you could throw them on. that being said you should be fine.
thriceanangel
Active member
you're fine with just the 4 t5's.
jgatmaitan
New member
That should be enough lighting. I have 100g (5 feet by 18" by 21") and the zoos are doing fine with 4 48" T5s. I even have a clam in there which is doing fine. I bought the retrofit kit and left room in the hood just in case I want to add another pair. As others have pointed out, get individual reflectors for the t5s.
Lord Sevein
New member
Personally I don't buy into the "T5's for softies and some lps, MH for everything else, and PC and NO fluorescents are crap" theory. I don't think you can generalize ANY group of corals into one lighting preference. With zoas/palys in particular, lighting preferences will depend on the color morph/species in question - Even in the best conditions some grow like weeds and some grow agonizingly slow!
That being said I have kept three or four types of zoas and palys under two 30w NO fluorescents without reflectors (I think it would be more accurate to call them shop lights) on my 30 long for several months with no problems. In fact I did see a bit of growth during the final months before I switched to MH. Does this mean that I would recommend this type of lighting setup? Not particularly . . . the zoas really did seem like they were stretching for light (getting tall) and their colors really didn't "pop" all that well (which could have been attributed to the ~5000k bulbs). Also the growth, when compared to my new setup, was VERY slow.
Since my switch to a 150w MH and a 24g aquapod a month ago I am starting to see a large increase in growth. Furthermore, the color has improved dramatically (which could be due more to the spectrum of the light rather than the intensity) and all of my zoas/palys look much more "normal" (not stretching for light). Between the two I prefer my MH setup would recommend it if for nothing else than aesthetics. Does this mean that you should go out and use MH? Not really. In choosing this other lighting extreme I had to give up a few things - namely my top to keep temps down - in order to be able to keep higher light corals. (Incidentally, I chose a 150w 50k Iwasaki DE bulb for my sunpod and I have yet to have any problems with any of my corals from the previous tank bleaching as of yet. I believe this is because of the bulb's higher color temperature . . . but I'm not exactly sure. I suspect that if I were to put a true 10k-14k that I would start to see some problems.)
My point is that I have kept zoas on both ends of the lighting "spectrum" and saw not only survival but even growth under both. After seeing other zoa/paly tanks I have found that the "best" examples are those that have used T5 lighting. I believe that this is because T5 lighting seems to be somewhere in the middle of PC and MH lighting in terms of light intensity. Furthermore, T5 lighting is not a source point light - meaning their light "glows" and covers a tank equally. This, in turn, allows the hobbyist some flexibility to increase or decrease the number of T5 lamps and, consequently, the amount of light in the whole tank. This effect is further enhanced by the use of individual reflectors as delsol650 suggested.
In short, I believe that using a T5 (T5 HO) lighting system will give you the flexibility to customize your lighting to your tank's needs.
Hope this helps!
-Lord Sevein
That being said I have kept three or four types of zoas and palys under two 30w NO fluorescents without reflectors (I think it would be more accurate to call them shop lights) on my 30 long for several months with no problems. In fact I did see a bit of growth during the final months before I switched to MH. Does this mean that I would recommend this type of lighting setup? Not particularly . . . the zoas really did seem like they were stretching for light (getting tall) and their colors really didn't "pop" all that well (which could have been attributed to the ~5000k bulbs). Also the growth, when compared to my new setup, was VERY slow.
Since my switch to a 150w MH and a 24g aquapod a month ago I am starting to see a large increase in growth. Furthermore, the color has improved dramatically (which could be due more to the spectrum of the light rather than the intensity) and all of my zoas/palys look much more "normal" (not stretching for light). Between the two I prefer my MH setup would recommend it if for nothing else than aesthetics. Does this mean that you should go out and use MH? Not really. In choosing this other lighting extreme I had to give up a few things - namely my top to keep temps down - in order to be able to keep higher light corals. (Incidentally, I chose a 150w 50k Iwasaki DE bulb for my sunpod and I have yet to have any problems with any of my corals from the previous tank bleaching as of yet. I believe this is because of the bulb's higher color temperature . . . but I'm not exactly sure. I suspect that if I were to put a true 10k-14k that I would start to see some problems.)
My point is that I have kept zoas on both ends of the lighting "spectrum" and saw not only survival but even growth under both. After seeing other zoa/paly tanks I have found that the "best" examples are those that have used T5 lighting. I believe that this is because T5 lighting seems to be somewhere in the middle of PC and MH lighting in terms of light intensity. Furthermore, T5 lighting is not a source point light - meaning their light "glows" and covers a tank equally. This, in turn, allows the hobbyist some flexibility to increase or decrease the number of T5 lamps and, consequently, the amount of light in the whole tank. This effect is further enhanced by the use of individual reflectors as delsol650 suggested.
In short, I believe that using a T5 (T5 HO) lighting system will give you the flexibility to customize your lighting to your tank's needs.
Hope this helps!
-Lord Sevein
Lord Sevein
New member
Actually delsol650, that was not my point at all.
Forgive me if I was a little long winded for you to understand, but my point was that, IME T5 lighting will not only suffice, but would be preferable to any other lighting systems for a zoa/paly tank. This is because T5 lighting systems provide more flexibility, through the addition and subtraction of individual lamps and reflectors (which, in turn, increases and decreases light intensity within the tank), than comparable PC and MH systems. The OP's individual species choices will determine the exact amount of light needed. My personal experiences were used to illustrate that yes, the lighting system he chose would "support" zoas.
Period.
Similar threads
