T5 Lighting May Be For You

[new2u]

RJ, I've got the exact same setup you do, and what clams and sps have worked well in your tank? I'd like to get some options i know would work with the lighting before expereminting

 

[Ti]

I have the same fixture.
Currently housing 2 maxima's

 

[Lordhelmet]

I love your tank. I have the 48" tek light over my 55 and wish i could've gotten the 6 bulb fixture.

 

[rjwilson37]

RJ, I've got the exact same setup you do, and what clams and sps have worked well in your tank? I'd like to get some options i know would work with the lighting before expereminting

I have great success with the following SPS - Montipora Capricornus, Montipora Digitata, Pocillopora. I have two Acropora's that are looking good, they just don't really grow much which I believe is more because my flow is a little week for Acro's. I am only pushing 17 times my water volume, where for Acro's you should really be pusing 23-25 times of indirect movement for Acro's.

I have the Derasa and 2 maxima clams which are down in the sand bed of a 20" high tank. I am running around a 3" sand bed.

 

[Jacob D]

Wow, this thread really took off! I came back to ask how your clams are doing RJ. I finally added a maxima to my T5-lit 75g and it seems fine so far, though its only been in there a couple months.

I've also started keeping some SPS lately (got bit by the bug) and I'm seeing noticable growth over the last month, the frags are begining to color up now. The A. chesterfieldensis and M. capricornis are looking very colorful, blue-tip A. tenuis and blue A. lovelli are only marginal so far (was a very nice sky blue). I too need more water flow but things are coming along and I'm going to be patient.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

No Pic's mothra? Those blues will need lotsa light to keep the colors up. Waterflow will make a big difference too. I have a pink cats paw coloney that was broken in half when I got it. I placed the two halfs at opposite ends of the tank and one darkened up a little but the color got much more vivid and the other went from pink to purple and then brown. I added a Seio 1500 to the tank last week so I now have it on the opposite side from a Tunze 6060 and the browned out half has already brightened up to the point I would call it purple again. Now if I just don't kill my finger leather life will be good

 

[rjwilson37]

Great to hear mothra! I am starting to think that SPS are easier to keep in an established tank compared to some Soft and LPS corals.

My Clams are doing great, I have had that Blue Maxima for almost a year and a half and the Derasa for I guess about 8 months. The gold maxima is doing good but did lose a little bit of the bright gold color it had when I got it. The blue maxima still has all it's color, the gold must have come from a tank with MH and the T5 are not enough to bring out it's brilliant color down in the sand. I think if I moved it towards the top it would get some more of it's bright gold color back. The derasa has almost doubled in size in 6 months, thank goodness it was on the smaller side of things when I got it.

 

[rjwilson37]

Mothra, here is a link to my 55g 1 year anniversary thread with a few nice pictures of the different area's of the tank.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=584345

 

[Ti]

I have great success with the following SPS - Montipora Capricornus, Montipora Digitata, Pocillopora. I have two Acropora's that are looking good, they just don't really grow much which I believe is more because my flow is a little week for Acro's. I am only pushing 17 times my water volume, where for Acro's you should really be pusing 23-25 times of indirect movement for Acro's.

I have the Derasa and 2 maxima clams which are down in the sand bed of a 20" high tank. I am running around a 3" sand bed.

odd.
I'm running the same fixture, yet just last month I caught my maxima gaping so I pushed them up 3-4"

 

[The Grim Reefer]

How big is your clam Ti, I have read, and I may have this bassackwards, the small ones need more light.

 

[Ti]

They are 2" and actually small clams need less light when small, as they grow they need more light due to the extra issue, which requires more light to be sustained.
I kept them on the sand bed for a few months perectly fine till one day I saw them starting to gape.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Bassackwards, just like I said At least I knew size mattered.

 

[Ti]

Bassackwards, just like I said At least I knew size mattered.

That is what she told me too.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

They are a little more dependent on phytoplankton when small, the clams not her, aren't they?

I figured i wasn't able to kill a crocea in over a year so I'd try my hand at a couple of little maximas. I had ywo Croceas and the good looking one died when a little BT anemone moved in under it and I didn't spot it in time. I assume the anemone sting is what killed it.

 

[Jacob D]

Good to hear RJ. Things are looking good for you. I'm not a big picture taker, maybe in a couple months when the sps have some growth. I've got a lot misc frags right now, now that I think about it

I'm still using equal parts blue+ and sun, and liking it a lot. I wish I had a little more actinic, but they are just too purple for my taste. I'm getting good growth, everything I have was started from small frags (mostly LPS). I have a galaxea from exotic reefs that started half golfball size 8 months later is about softball size, and candy canes that have gone from 1 head to a dozen or so. Zoos multiply like crazy and some other softies that have gotten big, so I'll be interested to see where the sps are at in 6 mos.

 

[rjwilson37]

That is great to hear. I opted for slower growth so I don't have to frag as much or worry about things taking over an area. Except those darn Anthelia's on the right side, I wish something would take a liking to them and gobble them up a bit.

 

[Jacob D]

Just put some aggressive LPS near the anthelias, like an echinophyllia, favia, or galaxea... that will solve your anthelia issue

I think the growth is mostly attributed to the sun bulbs, but from what I've heard the blue+ have almost as much PAR, and the aquablue (which I don't have) have more PAR than the sun, with the actinics having very low PAR (I don't have these either). Is this true to anyone's knowledge?

 

[Ti]

GE sun has the most par so far.
The D&D sun and the 11K are about the same, the blue comes close.
I think that was how it goes.

 

[Obi-dad]

Some bulbs have slightly more PAR, but according to my measurements all are close to each other (within about 10%) except for the actnic, that is way down on PAR. But I still keep one acintic in my mix of 6 bulbs for the added flourescence of some corals.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Obi-dad was the other one who measured PAR!

I knew it was someone lurking here