T5 Lighting May Be For You

[superswimmer]

1 Mandarin
1 Six line wrasse
1 rainfordi goby
1 Maroon Clown

I need some more
fish lol

 

[rjwilson37]

Your right superswimmer, maybe 2 more would be good. Make them something special and colorful.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

1 Mandarin
1 Six line wrasse
1 rainfordi goby
1 Maroon Clown

I need some more
fish lol

I think I would add a fuge before any more fish. A 46 isn't going to have a lot of pod production and if the six line is feeding on them at all the Marderin might starve unless you are one of the lucky few who has one that will eat prepaired foods.

 

[superswimmer]

I am and do. LOL i have had a ten gallon refugium up and running for about 6 months before even thinking of getting a mandarin. As of now I have had it for two weeks and it is happily accepting frozen mysis everyday to supplement its diet. It has even gotten fatter after i purchased it. However, if the fish should start to get skinny, i will promptly give it back, or find someone who can support it.

Thanks for the concern

 

[The Grim Reefer]

If the manderin is taking frozen shrimp it would probably take blackworms too if you can find them. Thats way cool you got one that eats the frozen shrimp. Mine is a pod snob.

With that kind of luck I'd try a Flame Angle for another fish. Those are just too cool looking By the way, nice rockscaping in your tank. I like the open swimming area at the top.

 

[Ehydo]

My mandarin will eat nothing but pods. I bought him skinny and now he is fat. He loves to take the ride down the overflow to the fuge. Lots of food there.

 

[DFL18]

you guys will love what my lfs said to me when i mentioned i will probably do t5 lighting on my 125 when i order it.

"who told you about t5s? their not that great, you have to replace the bulbs ever 5 months, with halides its only once a year" one of his sales reps was in the store and also commented "ya t5's are great if you like hair algea"

i told them both they should check out reefcentral and look at the positive results everyone has been having.

 

[Ti]

lfs always makes up all sorts of garbage to tell you.
I'm guessing that store didn't sell T5's huh?

 

[superswimmer]

The swimming space at the top... that place is reserved for branching SPS . I can;t wait to order my Tunze and then try my hand at them. I saw some really nice mont frags and a pollipicopra(sp?) too bad i cant spell/pronouce half of the names...

 

[Fishy1]

Just wanted to share a few new pics.........the 55 gallon is 4 months old now. I really love my T5's

Fishy1

 

[Fishy1]

 

[Fishy1]

Last one......

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Nice colors Fishy,

By the way, you can add multiple pics in one post.

 

[Fishy1]

I don't know how to do that, Grim......but thanks for the compliment

Janey

 

[rjwilson37]

Awesome Fishy1, just awesome!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I don't know how to do that, Grim......but thanks for the compliment

Janey

Sorry, ment to add the explaination. hit the IMG button again and fill in the blank. Saves you time. Try it out. I am sure we would all like to see more pics of your tank

 

[Fishy1]

Thanks, RJ It's because of you and this thread that I got my T5's.......no regrets......

Grim, I'll try that next time........thanks

Janey

 

[Timbor]

Hey RJ, perhaps you can give me some advice here...
I'm planning on setting up a 35 gal. reef tank this summer (36"long), and I'm trying to figure out what to use for lighting.
Here is my dilemma...

First off, I'm a student, so I dont exactly have thousands of dollars waiting to be spent. I had hoped to spend around $300 (cdn) on lights for my tank, but thats a rough estimate.

Next, I'm in Canada, so T5's are harder to come by... I looked into ordering some stuff online, but the cost was rather prohibitive.

There is a company near Toronto that carries some sunlight supply lights and retrofits, as well as a Canadian manufacturer called "miracles in glass"... so far I havent been able to find a website for them. The store has a 2*36" retrofit Tek light kit for about $280 (cdn) + bulbs, so lets say $350 with bulbs for a 2*39watt retrofit.

I had been looking at getting pc lights, this one in particular:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/details/l-pc.php?product_ID=pc-al36192

so thats $250(cdn) for 192 watts of pc lighting. So what I'm trying to figure out is how would 192 watts of pc lighting compare to 78watts of T5? I dont have money for 2 retrofit kits right now, and it would be a while till I could invest in another one to get 4 bulbs. Would it be better to just go with the 2 T5's instead of pc?

There is one other option... the Canadian manufacturer, "miracles in glass", make a 4*48" T5 hood unit (they dont make 36" units). It doesnt have individual reflectors for each bulb, and it would cost around $390 (cdn) with bulbs. How bad do you think it would look if I had a 4' fixture on my 3' tank?

Pretty long post, I know... I'm just beating my brains out trying to figure this out! Thanks for the help,

Tim

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Timbor

Have you checked www.reefgeek.com ? They ship to canada. a 4 lamp Tek hood is like 330 USD with all the lamps and shipping.

 

[Timbor]

Yeah, I've already checked with them... but once you add import duties and pay taxes, the price would jump to at least $500 cdn.... bit outta my range!

Tim