T5 selection?

[reefcat]

I've been out of the game for a few years and have only had a 55g with a PC fixture so things were pretty simple....set up wise that is.

Building a 120g 48x24x24 this time and almost done with the cycle. Sump/fuge, Vertex IN180 and the likes.

Have a low profile canopy so retro's will sit about 4" from the surface. Rock stacked and not on the back wall so I was thinking about going with 6 4x54 T5's.

Sure I would like to do as many SPS as possible but realistically I doubt if it will be a dominate SPS habitat to start.

So should I go with 6 or 8 bulbs?

Would 8 bulbs be to much light for some types of corals?

Thanks

Jerry

 

[cody6766]

I'd go with 8 bulbs just to cover the space. You won't have a whole lot of blending with the bulbs that close to the water and you have the depth to handle the extra light. Going with less may cause regrets in the future. I'd rather have too much than too little

 

[reefcat]

I'd go with 8 bulbs just to cover the space. You won't have a whole lot of blending with the bulbs that close to the water and you have the depth to handle the extra light. Going with less may cause regrets in the future. I'd rather have too much than too little

Wow....I never really considered the blending of the spectrum by having such a low profile canopy. Kind of makes you wonder about having fixtures that sit that low also.

On another note....even though the tank is 24" wide, my rock sits about 5 or 6 inches from the back wall so personally I see the extra 2 bulbs in the back just over lighting that area. Plus I could space the lights a tad bit more for better coverage.

Oh well......I guess another small dilemma to consider.

Thanks

Jerry

 

[cody6766]

You could probably get away with 6 bulbs, but you should wire/hang them so you could add an extra pair later on if you need to. As for the blending bit, you won't be completely up the creek with less bulbs. The light will continue to cross paths as it moves down through the water. It'll be more noticable at the top, but all will not be lost. I keep my 6 bulb light about 6-8" off the water for my 40br (18" front to back) and having the light maxed out on the legs mixes the colors better than when it's half way up.

 

[reefcat]

Cody I like your thinking there sir. Tell me........what do you think of this bulb selection and order?

Front

Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

 

[Scuba Steve]

Cody I like your thinking there sir. Tell me........what do you think of this bulb selection and order?

Front

Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

I would threw a 6500k midday for growth! And a Fiji purple as well. But really it's personal preference. It's what your eyes like to see. More blue color! More white!

ATI Blue Plus
Korallen zucht Fiji purple
Giesemann 6500k midday
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus

 

[cody6766]

I like a pretty blue tank (20000K) so I'm running, in this order,
3 Blue Plus
Fiji Purple
Aquablue special
Blue plus

I'll probably swap the placement of the Fiji Purple with one of the Blue plus bulbs soon. I just noticed they were like that when I wrote this. I think an Indigo Sun may be a better option than the Fiji Purple, but I'm not sure. I have one of the 24" ones and it looks great paired with a Blue Plus, but I can't comment on it with my 36" bulb mix mentioned above.

swapping a Blue Plus for a second aquablue special gives more of a 12-14000K look. Adding a GLO 6700K bulb to the above list is a little yellow for my taste. It's not really needed for growth as the Blue Plus bulbs are very high PAR bulbs, as are the others. You don't really run into the PAR loss with a bluer spectrum with these bulbs like you do with MH bulbs. If you track down Grim Reefer's home page (listed in his profile IIRC) he has a good set of PAR test results for a lot fo the major bulbs out there.

 

[happysak]

+1 to Cody. Well said