Lights for a 125, somebody straighten me out

schatzi

Professional amateur
I'm on the verge of setting up a 125 and had been planning to build an LED array with Cree's but the cost is going to be too high. I'd rather spend the money on a skimmer and lose the "cool" factor. :sad2:

So I guess I'm back to looking at T5's. Planning a reef setup. Would 4 rows of bulbs the length of the tank (72") be sufficent for most corals? How would 2 rows work? Thanks.
 
Your best bet it to buy a retrofit of 5' bulbs and stagger them in your canopy. As you are probably aware T5 bulbs are not made in 72" length. You either have to stagged 5' bulbs or have a combo of 36" and 24" bulbs to complete the 72".

To save on bulb cost, go with the 5' bulbs.

Depending on your lighting needs you could go all VHO.

It all really depends on how much you want to spend and what you lighting demands are.
 
well if you wanted corals that were only moderate in their high intensity light requirements could you get by on 4 rows of T5's? That's basically what I'm looking for, sort of the watts per gallon rule for T5's I guess. Thanks.
 
No... 6 row (12 bulb) T5HO like the 72" Aquaticlife is what you will need for SPS and clams. You have 22" of water to penetrate. Don't forget you need a fixture good reflectors.
 
I don't think you need 6 bulbs - if you stagger 5 bulbs and keep the high light animals a little off the sand bed you should be fine.

I like the 60" bulbs - I use them on my 125 (with individual reflectors), the only problem is that I always have to order them because nobody local to me carries them.
 
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