shallow tank, t5's and zoos

bigfruits

New member
im thinking about setting up a small tank with zoos, lps and softies.
ill probably get a 20 or 30 gallon tank so the depth will only be 16 to 18 inches.
i was thinking of either going with a tek 4 bulb or an aquactinics 5 bulb fixture and was wondering if this was too much light for zoos at this depth.
anyone keep them under these conditions?

thanks in advance
-z
 
Most zoas are adapted to high lighting. They live in tidal zones, which means they are the closet to the sun they can be.
 
my zoos thrive in my teklights 4 bulb T5 fixture.. I have some maybe 8-10 inches away from the light and their colors just absolutely pop
 
I have a colony about 4 inches from the surface from a tek 6 bulb, and they seem to love it. They stay open all day, and seem to be growing well. They are also holding there color very well. If it helps, they are "Greenbay Packers", green with a yellow mouth. Sounds like a great set-up for fast growth!!
 
They should do well for you eventually, but acclimation is the key. You will have to let them adjust over time to the lighting. People underestimate t5's. They can be brighter than MH if done correctly.
 
Go for the Aquactinics setup. You will pay more at the start, but you will have a sexy and very efficient lighting setup. The lights are very strong and SPS well grow well under that lighting.

I have a 50g with a 5x39w Aquactinics setup. Great setup and very powerful lights.
 
I have a 6-54w TEK T5 fixture and it bakes my zoos. I have to use some gutter guard to shade an entire half of my tank.

Example

First day in tank
000_0012_00.jpg


A few days ago.
100_0215.jpg
 
Buy the Tek. I have one and am very happy. I've heard quite a few complaints about the Aquatinics not starting and the ballasts making a ton of noise. I also like the build quality of the Tek a little more. I have 4x39w over my 38 and SPS, LPS and zoas are doing great. I actually had the T5s bleach an acan and some zoas until i shaded them a bit.
 
Can't turn off bulbs, my SPS wouldn't like that! I have a shaded side and an unshaded side so it works out.
 
ha, i was bragging about my zoos loving the t-5's but now a few are starting to bleach!! I love t-5's!! I cant wait to get a few SPS in there.
 
im starting to think 4 t5's with tek reflectors might not be a good idea for zoos and softies in that shallow of a tank....
 
18 inches isn't that shallow. I've got a Tek 4x39 unit over my 38 and it works great for everything I have. You can click on my red house to see some pics of it. For most of them, I was using the F-stops and adjusting the ISOs so the lights wouldn't wash the picture out and I had a diffuser filter on the camera. So some of them may appear a little darker than it really is.

I just cleaned it up and I don't currently have a big selection of zoos. I keep most of what I have on the bottom though and they do fine. I think it can depend a lot on the zoos also. Some like high light and some don't. In the one pic, you'll see I just got some lunar eclipse palys and I have them laying on the bottom now. I had them up on the frag tray, about 3" below the waters surface while the light fixture is 4" above the water's suface.

Well, they started fading within a week. The mouths got really white. They would open and close all day. Since I put them on the bottom, they are fine and happier. Also have a lot of Eagle eyes on the bottom that are doing great.
 
I've got a 5x39w over my 18inch high 50g and I have no issues now. You will get some bleaching at first, but this won't last if you keep your zoas lower in the tank. I've got my palys way up in the tank and they are doing great! Here are a few pics:

50g 36x18x18 with a 5x39w Aquactinics setup. (I apologize for the dirty glass).

FTS.jpg


Here is a shot of my blenny and some zoas. He likes to perch on them.
wamas_contest.jpg
 
thanks for posting, vessxpress1. im planning on only keeping zoos, lps and softies and some of them will have to be up high in the tank. maybe i can run 2 of the bulbs at a time. two of them for dusk and dawn and have them cut off during the middle of the day and the other two come on with a whiter midday light... was thinking super actinic and blueplus for dusk/dawn and maybe aquablue and blue plus for midday....
 
Zigor,

Since we are both in the NOVA area, you are more thank welcome to stop in and check out my tank. I keep anemones, LPS, SPS, Softies, and zoas in that tank.

Send me a PM if you are interested.
 
Big, np. Don't worry about leaving 4 bulbs on all day. If you turn off your actinics during the day, it won't look as good and the corals may not like it as much. The actinics are simulating the spectrum of light that reaches the more deepr depths in the wild. Some of your coral may need a full day of it. Here's a pic of my bulbs reflecting on the surface of the water:

04-LTtoRTTek4x39wT5s-ATIBlue11000kA.jpg



The one in front is a Blue Plus. The next one (white) is an ATI aquablue 11,000k. The next one (yellow) is a Geismann 6000k midday. The one in the back is an ATI pure actinic. The outside actinics come on at 9 a.m. and then the middle ones fire up at 10 a.m. They're all on, all day until the middle ones shut off at 8:30 p.m. and the actinics go out at 9 p.m. That's just my lighting schedule. You can come up with whatever suits your lifestyle.

Again, you can click on my little red house to view pics of the tank to see what this bulb configuration will do for you. I took those pics just a few days ago and the bulbs are 8 months old now. They seem to be still going strong, accept the rear actinic may be losing a bit because my GSPs aren't flouresing nearly as much as they were. They normally look very neon green under these bulbs.

If you want the tank more blue, like you said, just switch out the midday one I have for another blue plus. But that will make the tank very blue.

I'm pretty happy with this light setup.

If you want to learn more about them, there's a thread in the Lighting Filtration and Equipment forum called the T-5 Q&A thread. It's VERY long now but you can skim through it and get some ideas.
 
I've been running T-5's for about three years now, and I honestly think it depends on the indiviual zoa as to how it's going to addapt. I've got some that absolutly love it 5" under the lights, but then I've got others like some pinks that took about six months to finally start staying open all day, and even then they like shaded areas for the most part. I've never run MH so I can't compare, but IMO I get some great growth and color out of my zoas...

Here are some pics..
had these a few years..
z1.jpg

z3.jpg

z2.jpg

and some new ones..
newzoas.jpg
 
Back
Top