New tek t-5 light

[fkdenton]

My wife just called me and my new tek light came in today!!!!!! Now it is time to talk coral. I think I want to start with some green star polyps. Does anyone have any to sell. I want to start small and slowly work my way up. If anyone has any other softies that they want to sell that they think would work for me let me know.

 

[marblesojecki]

fkdenton you have pm

 

[fkdenton]

The light came in and looks great. Anyone else with soft frags?

 

[Horace]

All I can say is you had better put them in a low light area. T5s are not friendly to most softies. The frag of star polyps I got has hardly grown at all and often are only extended about half of the time. T5's are just too bright. Its funny people buy T5s thinking they will start off slow, but T5s are best suited to SPS which are the hardest to keep. My best advice would be to try and create as many overhangs as you can so you can put the low light guys under them. I would also put most things you get on the sandbed to start with and then slowly raise them if you think they need more light. Good luck!

 

[fkdenton]

All right got the two of the bulbs in (the acintic plus are being shipped) and put it on the tank last night looks good evan with only two bulbs. 1GE and 1 aquablue. What about LPS horance? I dont want to go SPS for a few months. I want to get the tank better stabilized first. Are there any sps frags that might be ok now?

 

[Horace]

Im not saying you should now go all out SPS because T5s are best suited to them, I am just warning you that you should definatly put the lower light stuff in safer areas. I wouldnt advise puting SPS in there until your tank has been stableized for atleast 4-5 months. At that point you could try some digis (montipora digitata) or something like that. I definatly wouldnt advise any acorpora species for a while.

As for LPS, it totally depends on what ones your talking about. My frogspawns seem to do well, but they are only about half way up in the tank. My candycane have not faired so well. I had to move them to the bottom and put them under an overhang because they wouldnt extend. Your just going to have to watch your corals closely and determine which of them are light lovers and which arent. It will become apparent rather quickly, and some may take several weeks to adjust.

 

[fkdenton]

Dont worry Im not getting ready to fill it with sps. Im just starting with a few softies and than to lps. I love torch coral will that do ok you think?

 

[Horace]

I dont have any torches so I really dont know. I think it will probably do ok, just keep it nice and low to start with.

 

[brad23]

torches are higher light LPS, it should be ok.

 

[brewsterW]

fkdenton

I have the Tek t-5's too - 2 10k's and 2 actinic blues. You should have no problem growing sofites as well as sps. Both are in my tank. As with most corals, you might have to move them around a bit to see where they're comfortable.

 

[Horace]

I have plenty of softies myself, you just have to be much more strategic in thier placement is all. That is the really the only point I was trying to make.