candymancan
New member
I have a reef going in my 27g hexagon only a few fish small fish like a royal gramma and azure damzel and hermit crabs
The tank is recentky setup and cycled and i didnt have money for lights but I did have a spare light fixture. I had a Current 65w power compact fixture as well as a duel 65w power compact ballast i had put into a 24 inch t8 hood.
The bbs except one are all new or fairly new. So basically right now i have 4 65w power compact lights over the tank. 3 420/460 nm actinics and 1 6500/6500.
I currently have hammer coral. bubble coral a clam. acropora a monitpora. and a few green stylophora.. Also have s torch coral.
They all seem to be doing fine in the lighting i habe.. but because pc bulbs start to lose intensity after 6-8 months and the bulbs are hard to find i need a new light.
I was looking at those 165w black box leds.. The tank is 18x18x24 so one black box would cover the entire tank perfectly. But i worry about those black boxes dying a year later.. Or starting fires due to them not having UL rated power supplies... There are like 10 diff names for them all are the same box though.. China likes to have 10 no name companies selling the same thing.. And thr black box i was looking at had a remote. dimmer. timer ect and its 139$
The other option are T5HO lights.. But to be honest im not sure if T5 is viable today ? I worry they will just suddenly stop making bulbs for them like they did for power compact and T8s. Or do i not need to worry about that ?
The T5 HO fixture im looking at is this one Sorry i dunno why amazon has a loooong kink for this light but yea.. I was thinking of getting two 20 inch fixtures. So 18 inch 18w T5HO bulbs. With 4 T5s i can do maybe 1 violet 1 blue 1 6500k 1 blue in that order . But T5 fixtures like these are small i could actually put 3 of them over my tank. So 6 T5HO 18w bulbs.
And maybe do 1 violet 1 blue 2 6500k 1 violet 1 blue or something like that.
Or do coral not need 6500k ? I read its better to do a 6500k light otherwise all blue light will kill coral over time.
Anyway.
what should i get ? The black box 165W led.. Or 2 T5HO fixtures.. or 3 T5HO fixtures ?? Is 6 T5HO too much for a 24 inch 18x18 tank ?
Is a 18 inch T5HO bulb even viable to grow coral ? I could get the 24 inch one but 24 inches would hang over both sides of my tank
https://www.amazon.com/6500K-Aquari...d_t=gateway&psc=1&refRID=MZE06MA528WW55AG1C8V
The tank is recentky setup and cycled and i didnt have money for lights but I did have a spare light fixture. I had a Current 65w power compact fixture as well as a duel 65w power compact ballast i had put into a 24 inch t8 hood.
The bbs except one are all new or fairly new. So basically right now i have 4 65w power compact lights over the tank. 3 420/460 nm actinics and 1 6500/6500.
I currently have hammer coral. bubble coral a clam. acropora a monitpora. and a few green stylophora.. Also have s torch coral.
They all seem to be doing fine in the lighting i habe.. but because pc bulbs start to lose intensity after 6-8 months and the bulbs are hard to find i need a new light.
I was looking at those 165w black box leds.. The tank is 18x18x24 so one black box would cover the entire tank perfectly. But i worry about those black boxes dying a year later.. Or starting fires due to them not having UL rated power supplies... There are like 10 diff names for them all are the same box though.. China likes to have 10 no name companies selling the same thing.. And thr black box i was looking at had a remote. dimmer. timer ect and its 139$
The other option are T5HO lights.. But to be honest im not sure if T5 is viable today ? I worry they will just suddenly stop making bulbs for them like they did for power compact and T8s. Or do i not need to worry about that ?
The T5 HO fixture im looking at is this one Sorry i dunno why amazon has a loooong kink for this light but yea.. I was thinking of getting two 20 inch fixtures. So 18 inch 18w T5HO bulbs. With 4 T5s i can do maybe 1 violet 1 blue 1 6500k 1 blue in that order . But T5 fixtures like these are small i could actually put 3 of them over my tank. So 6 T5HO 18w bulbs.
And maybe do 1 violet 1 blue 2 6500k 1 violet 1 blue or something like that.
Or do coral not need 6500k ? I read its better to do a 6500k light otherwise all blue light will kill coral over time.
Anyway.
what should i get ? The black box 165W led.. Or 2 T5HO fixtures.. or 3 T5HO fixtures ?? Is 6 T5HO too much for a 24 inch 18x18 tank ?
Is a 18 inch T5HO bulb even viable to grow coral ? I could get the 24 inch one but 24 inches would hang over both sides of my tank
https://www.amazon.com/6500K-Aquari...d_t=gateway&psc=1&refRID=MZE06MA528WW55AG1C8V
