Suggestion on T5 length.

[gabe3d]

I am thinking of purchasing some T5 supplements for my 72'' long tank and i can't decide between 4 x 36'' or 2 x 60''. I'm leaning towards the 60'' since it is cheaper and the 6'' on each sides that are not supplemented won't be too bad in my opinion. Please let me know what you guys think and also if you have experienced with shorter actinics supplement.

Thanks

BTW, i have 3 large lumenarc reflectors on top of my tank already so the light coverage is pretty good right now.

 

[luke33]

I'm going to be using the 60" t5's on my 125g 6' tank here soon. I've heard that you can't tell the difference for the 6" s of free space on each side.

 

[gabe3d]

Thanks luke.

I use to have a 60'' tank (before the 60'' t5s were out) and had 6 t5 bulbs on top of it and it looked pretty decent. A little bit dimmer on the sides if you really pay attention to it. You can take a look at my red house and under 100 gallons. I'm just worried about the mix of colors and lighting types making it more obvious since i will be running MH and T5.

 

[hahnmeister]

Id just go with the 5' bulbs. The tricky part is what ballast to run... Icecap 660s only run 3 of them, but this seems to be most cost-effective solution, as 1x80wattT5HO ballasts are expensive!!!

 

[gabe3d]

I have a workhorse ballast 7 and apparently based on the website it can run two 60'' T5HO, what is your thought?

 

[Icefire]

WH7 will work, I use it for 4x39w