Lighting

[E.intheC]

Here's the story in brief.. I have been keeping my 90 as a FOWLR for a while. However, I'm slowly converting it over to a full reef. (Mostly Zoas and some LPS/Acans).

My current light is a 4 bulb Tek. How's this going to work for the above corals? I think it will be sufficient as my rock is essentially 2x islands in the center (front to back) of the tank and there won't be too many corals on the sand bed.. Of course I'll buy brand new ATI bulbs. In the future, I'll probably end up adding an LED strip (Reefbrite/similar) but not for a few months.

Your thoughts/confirmations? I would just run out and buy a stronger fixture/one with more bulbs, but I'd rather not spend the money at this point.

Thanks.

 

[gonpostal]

IMO that fixture with a good set of bulbs should be enough for Zoas and LPS. I had a 4 bulb ATI Sunpower on my 90 gallon, and I kept Zoas, Leathers, Frogspawn, Candy Cane (and probably some others that I'm forgetting). I also had a Monti Cap and Birdsnest near the top that were doing well.

 

[E.intheC]

I actually had a 4 bulb Sunpower but had to sell it a few months back. It worked great. Tek isn't quite as good, though.

There are many people who have 6 bulb Tek lights with full reef tanks, but that really just gives more front to back coverage, I suspect.

 

[gonpostal]

I still think it would be good enough with a good set of high PAR bulbs. I don't know which bulbs you're planning on getting, but (as I'm sure you probably know) I wouldn't get any actinics. Blue+, Purple+, and Aquablue Special all have high PAR. I personally prefer the KZ Coral Light over the Aquablue Special. It also has high PAR and it's a nice crisp white. You could always run it by the gurus over in the T5 Q&A thread

 

[E.intheC]

Definitely. As for bulbs, I'll probably get 2x ATI Blue+, 1x Purple, and either a GE6500 or an aquablue special/KZ bulb.

 

[gonpostal]

That sounds like a good combo. When I order bulbs, I sometimes order an extra one in case I want to try something different. Maybe you can order both the GE and the KZ (or Aquablue) bulbs so you can try them both. I usually order from ReefGeek, and the GE bulb is pretty cheap so it wouldn't hurt. I personally really like the color that the GE bulb adds to the tank, but the only thing I don't like about it is that it seems to make algae grow faster. I found myself having to clean my glass more often with the GE bulb, so now I use the Coral Light instead.

 

[A. Grandis]

Yeap. I would prefer 6 bulbs on a 90 gal. instead 4 bulbs.
I've got 6 bulbs ATI PM on my 75gal and will have 8 bulbs ATI PM on my future 125gal. zoa tank.

I believe ATI fixture to be a little better than TekLight.
I have 6 bulb Tek on a planted tank.
Should be fine for zoas.

I like the Blue+, Aquablue and 75/25 bulbs.
Next time I'll buy the coral light too!

You should be fine though. Not too bad.

Have fun.
Grandis.

 

[E.intheC]

I ended up going with an Aquactinics Tx5 fixture. Better than a Tek, but not as bright as an ATI. However, I feel like a 6 bulb ATI would have been too much for my zoa and acan dominated tank. Plus, the Aquactinics fixture was much cheaper (I picked it up used locally and saved about $400 over a new ATI).

 

[A. Grandis]

Hummm. Nope, the 6 bulb is ATI not too much for a 90gal.
You could say that the 6 bulbs ATI isn't really necessary, but it's not too much.
Try to find some shallow water zoas in the wild and you'll know what I'm talking about.
They won't bit the sun!
Actually you'll be fine with 4 normal fluorescents if you wish, like we used to do 20 years ago. Just put them in the right place in the system and they'll survive for a while. Not the best...

Just my thoughts.

Stronger the better with the T5s.

Grandis.

 

[sqwat]

the ge bulb is the one you cant live without in that setting i now it grows allot of algea but also feed the zooxanthia just the same.you get the most useable light out of the low kelvins asd if you dont care about the yellow look go all daylight bulbs and save attinics for led supplimentation.you have a 4 bulb set go 1 ati blue 1 ati purple and 2 giessemenn aquablue powerchrome.you get allot of useable light out of that settup with some blues and purple and the aquablue's daylight bulb are rated very high and not yellow at all.gl

 

[E.intheC]

A. Grandis, thanks for the help. I should have worded my post better.
I've read tons of stories where people have had difficulty placing anything but SPS corals with a 6bulb ati. Some have had bleaching issues. More is not always better.
My tank will be primarily low to moderate light corals, so the Aquactinics fixture is plenty. I have 3x blue+, 1 purple+ and. 1 aquablue special. Color is fine, but ill probably switch out the AB soon.
The 6500K GE bulb looked awful IMO.

 

[A. Grandis]

No problem E.intheC,
Well, all I've got here are zoas. No SPS corals.
6 bulbs all the way.

What makes them to bleach is lack of addaptation to the fixture, temp and others.
We need to allow them to get used to the bulbs...

There is a limit of used photoperiod, but I have them for 10 hours a day total with no problems at all.

Some of my zoas are out of the water when I turn the pumps off.
Doing great for years...

Grandis.