new lighting idea: will this work for a mainly sps tank?

[nemo g]

this set up is far from "budget". in fact, an 8 bulb setup would be a few hundred cheaper, but it wouldnt give me what i want.

dont worry about the bad info, it seems a lot of people are usually on "auto post", where they just post the most common reponses. i just happen to be the kind of guy that usually doesnt ask common questions.

 

[mcintosh]

Hey nemo G,
Not sure as I don't have this set-up... But, with your t-5's and 70W HQI's you may not get much in the way of glitter lines at all. Your T-5's may outperform/color out the MHs. Just a thought. Would hate for you to spend the moolah and then not be happy with the results.

Wish I could give you a "I did that and it was horrid" or "I did that and it was great" but, haven't done it.

 

[mcintosh]

Sorry, DP

 

[Mchava]

nemo, I think this set up will work for you. I have tried the 4 t5 combo in my take just using the triad ballast. Now I will recommend using the slr reflectors instead of the tek. I tried on tek and then the slr and I found that the slr will give you more light and spreads the light better. The only hard part would be selecting the right t5's for your preffrence but I would go with 1 ge 6500k,1 11k aquablue, 2 atinic+ or 1 6500k GE,11k, 1 attinic+ and the new uvi super attinic. I've played around with the bubls and I found the the second combo gives me more light and everything look beter. As far as what you can keep, it all deppends on you water quality. I know there is some one on RC using only VHO's and his tank look awsome.

 

[Malolo]

As far as overdriving goes, it depends on how far down you want to be able to do sps. If its to the bottom of a 24" tank, I would definitely get an IC 660.

In my all t5 58 I have wonderful par in the upper half (~250ish as measured on an Apogee photon flux meter) but it drops off rather dramatically. Not currently overdriving but may in the future.

Im not a fan of the GE bulb. The color is so green that IMO it doesnt justify the increase in par Ive measured.