exited
- Thread starter skippy823
- Start date
bagged87blayzer
New member
Awesome Skip. Cant wait to see the tank back in full force!
skippy823
I'm not sure you will find much scientific data to say what lighting is best for color or growth with the pace technology we have today. For t5 vs 400w in general the 400w will blow away the t5 on intensity. Hands down unless you bank more than a normal tank holds. But this is not the case when you want to grow happy coral. For most coral the 400's are not what they are use to. Bang them with high noon + intensity all day? Great for shallow water coral though.
When you change your lighting take dugg's advice and cut back the lighting hours as you will be changing the lighting spectrum. This can bleach coral as much as increasing the intensity. You want to give your coral a chance to change their Zooaxanthellae so they can absorb the new spectrum you are giving them.
Again if you are growing shallow water coral you might want to the 400's . If not save the money on electricity and acclimate them to the t5's.
I'm not sure you will find much scientific data to say what lighting is best for color or growth with the pace technology we have today. For t5 vs 400w in general the 400w will blow away the t5 on intensity. Hands down unless you bank more than a normal tank holds. But this is not the case when you want to grow happy coral. For most coral the 400's are not what they are use to. Bang them with high noon + intensity all day? Great for shallow water coral though.
When you change your lighting take dugg's advice and cut back the lighting hours as you will be changing the lighting spectrum. This can bleach coral as much as increasing the intensity. You want to give your coral a chance to change their Zooaxanthellae so they can absorb the new spectrum you are giving them.
Again if you are growing shallow water coral you might want to the 400's . If not save the money on electricity and acclimate them to the t5's.
Since the 400's would represent high noon you could cut them back. As far as the t'5 you could increase them up to 14 hrs. This would represent light hours at summer time and might get you better color. Take 1/2 hour off the 400's and add and hour to the t5's. Then add 1/2 hour each week to the t5's till you reach 14 hrs. The 400's you could cut back to a 2-3 hour light cycle. Skip any light increase if you change 20% or more of water or add heavy amounts of mechenical filtration such as carbon or phosphate remover.
