Lighting confusion....

J

janalta

New member
I know that what I really need are T5s, but for now, it's not in the budget...so I have to work with what I've got.

I inherited my tank from my nephew...it is a 55 gal ( 4 ft ) with the plastic hoods and two seperate light fixtures. It came to me with two 18" Daylight full spectrum bulbs.
Since I've heard a lot about Actinic light, I thought I need those, so I went out and bought one...and although I liked the colors it brought out in my mushrooms and zoanthids.....I found that side of the tank to be way too dark to even view anything properly.

I've since read that, contrary to what it says on the packaging....actinics don't really do much for coral growth and is basically just asthetic.
Is this true?
Ideally I would love to find 50/50 bulbs...but none of the limited LFS here have any such thing. So....until I can afford to get set up with T5.....should I stick to just the Daylight bulbs, or use one Daylight and one Actinic..on either side of the tank ?

Right now I have just the basic CUC, two damsels, a feather duster, two skunk shrimp, a sand sifter, 5 brittle stars ( Hitchikers ) and small frags of : green and purple mushroom, colt, cabbage, star polyp and zoanthids
 
you aren't going to be able to keep any corals alive with the stock T8 bulbs

at most I'd say your getting 30 watts when you need more like 220 watts

I would reccomend you get some NPS corals until you can afford a T5 fixture
 
Netofficer3710 said:
you aren't going to be able to keep any corals alive with the stock T8 bulbs

at most I'd say your getting 30 watts when you need more like 220 watts

I would reccomend you get some NPS corals until you can afford a T5 fixture
Click to expand...

Wurdd :thumbsup:

If your really on a budget, Aquatraders have really stepped up their game on their fixtures and they are on the cheaper side.

http://www.aquatraders.com/Aquarium-Lighting-s/5.htm

But if at all possible, its worth it to save up and get a good quality fixture. I have a few of the 20" T-5HO fixtures on some of my smaller tanks, and they've worked great!
 
Canada - no Petco.

Do the T5's come in an 18" so that I don't have to buy the whole fixture?
Any that I've seen are a much smaller diameter tube that won't fit into my current hood
 
T5s aren't going to fit in your stock T8 fixture. The designations T5 and T8 refer to the bulb size, T5 is 5/8 of an inch in diameter and T8 is 8/8 or 1 inch in diameter. If you are wanting to go with t5 you will probably have to buy a fixture or retrofit set. And thats the least I would recommend if you are wanting to keep corals.
 
You currently don't have sufficient posts or time on the forum to view the buy/sell section, but once you do, you can probably get a pretty good set up for way less than new. Maybe try a more local approach for used stuff. With LEDs starting to come on strong, many folks will be selling their Halide & T5 fixtures. LEDs themselves will also start coming down in price as more hobbyists switch to this technology.

Another thing to keep in mind if you still wish to switch to T5s, is that most set ups for marine tanks are T5HO and you will need matching ballasts to run them. If what you have currently is T8, it's unlikely that those ballasts will run any T5s, even if you're able to find 18 inch tubes.
 
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I would second the aquatraders idea, I am currently thinking about trying out their lights as well.

last I checked they have a 48" 4 bulb T5 HO fixture WITH BULBS for abound 100 bucks (which is crazy cheap)

this is the same wattage I have over my reef at a fraction of the price I spent on my fixture.
 
I have a few questions for the OP. Did your nephew have the shrooms in the tank before you got them o ris this a new addition of yours? I am just curious how long they have been in there. They do pretty well in notoriously low light conditions. I am not sure that t8 is sufficient, but I do know that I had some in an ultra budget tank with really old PC bulbs and they still spread like wildfire.

+1 on the used forum. You should be able to get some things for a reasonable amount of money from there once that part of the forum is available to you.
 
The mushrooms, etc have only been in the tank for a few weeks now but seem to be doing fine so far.
The zoanthids and star polyps have been in the tank for over a month and are doing well....Opening every evening, looking healthy, growing new polyps.

I'm confused about one thing....people are saying that even if I can upgrade to a T5 fixture it probably won't be enough light...but...isn't that what many people used before the LED and MH came along?
I know the guy who I got the new frags from was running T5s before and he had some great LPS corals.

He's actually selling his old unit for $150...but wouldn't I then also have to buy a full glass top for my tank? I mean..the hood on there now only has the glass strips along the center...which wouldn't let enough of the light in...would it?
 
One thing to consider is a 2 bulb T5 setup. I know you sont have Petco, but they sell a 2 bulb unit for a hundred or less. If Petco has it for this then I am sure you could find something simular. You could use this either open topped or you could make a screen top for it. (check out the DIY threads for and easy and inexpensive way to do this.) The 2 bulb T5 would be enough to do soft corals and maybe some LPS.

T5 came after metal halides and before LED started being used in aquarium use. The T5s will give you more light than the T8s you are currently using.
 
Ok..so aquatraders does have just the light I want.....But...do they ship to Canada ? Most US retailers won't...and if they do, the shipping costs can nix any savings
 
OK...so, checked with Aquatraders and they do ship to Canada...shipping is about $35.00.
What I'm looking at is an Odyssea T5 HO 216 W ( 4X 54 W) 48".
It comes with 2 10000K 54 W T5 bulbs, 2 54 W actinic bulbs and 4 LED Bluemoon lights.
They are asking $98.00...so, even with shipping, it would be more light for less than buying the second hand one here.
But..I'm wondering about quality...does anyone have experience with Odyssea lighting? Hoping this isn't too good to be true.
 
I have looked into their stuff and I am hearing good things.
Their old stuff had a nasty habit of catching fire but everyone has good stuff to say about the new fixtures.
their facilities look very third worldish and their products are suspiciously cheap but enough people on here have said they are happy to convince me to give them a shot.
 
Thanks to all who took the time to answer !
After talking to the guy I was going to buy the used light from...it is only a two bulb set up for $150...so I decided to chance it and go ahead and order the Odyssea, even with shipping costs it comes out to less money and twice the wattage...plus the night time LEDs.
I know the long term quality is probably not as good...but for the price, it's hard to beat.
 
Well...got my lights from Aquatrader !
I was pretty impressed really...only took a week to be delivered to Canada from the day the order went through...they said to expect from 10-14 days.

Everything looks good...it was all packed well, all of the lights work. Only complaint is that the extendable legs will need a little tweeking to fit properly...they're just barely clinging on to the edge....so I'll need to try to bend them a bit to make them more stable.

Absolutely love the light the T5/actinic combo gives !!!!!
Excited for tonight so that I can use the LED moon lights to spy on everyone. :O)

So...for now, I would have to give Aquatraders and their new Odyssea lights a thumbs up...especially for $98.00 plus shipping !!
 
stewartms said:
One thing to consider is a 2 bulb T5 setup. I know you sont have Petco, but they sell a 2 bulb unit for a hundred or less. If Petco has it for this then I am sure you could find something simular. You could use this either open topped or you could make a screen top for it. (check out the DIY threads for and easy and inexpensive way to do this.) The 2 bulb T5 would be enough to do soft corals and maybe some LPS.

T5 came after metal halides and before LED started being used in aquarium use. The T5s will give you more light than the T8s you are currently using.
Click to expand...

I have them on my tank at petco good polyp extention on frogspawn and bubble coral.

Raffle grabber
 
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