T5's on a 180

[Im Lon 2]

I'm think about switching from my 2 400watt MH, and 250Watt MH out to T5's. I'm looking for a 14k look as I run right now 2 400watt (14k from Ocean Encounter witch put out more at 20k) and the 250 is a 10k in the center. I also run 4 - 110 (all Actinic) VHO's

My questions is.. What do others run on there 180, as far as bulb color and how many of each bulb.

Right now I'm keeping Zoo's, and ric's and do have two clams.

TIA

 

[jpitts101]

I have 12 T-5's on my 180. I run a 2 to 3 ratio. 2 actinics to every 3 whites. Thats just me though. I have a mixed reef, SPS LPS and softies. Everything is doing great and growing like mad. click the little red house and you'll see what it looks like. just my 2 cents.

 

[Im Lon 2]

forgot to ask what Length are you running?

 

[jpitts101]

36 inch on a 72 inch tank.

 

[Im Lon 2]

Nice tank. I was thinking of running 6 to 8 4' bulbs.

I have a friend that has a 3'x5'x2' tank and he is running 8 5' bulbs on his, with the German Giesman bulbs.. I'm not very impressed with them.. I have seen other tanks that have looked much better with T5's. Everything closed up on him so he switch it down to 5 of the bulbs. 3 blue and 2 11k, and the 11k over powers the blue and does not give it much of actinic look at all. Everything thing look dull with the 2 11k's on but with just the the blue the tank looks awesome, just not that bright.

 

[jpitts101]

Thats the beauty of T-5's, you can mix and match them to your personal color preferance. I use giesman bulbs and love them. You just have to play with the bulbs to find " that " color you want. I personally think you wont go wrong with the T-5's and you will be impressed with some colors they bring out in your corals.

 

[tbone28]

I have 16 bulbs over mine - 2 fixtures, each 8x39w.

Here are some pics

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1160534&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

Here's my lamp config:

Front

Blue Plus
UVL Super Actinic
UVL Aquasun
Aquablue
GE 3000K
Aquablue
UVL Super Actinic
Blue Plus

 

[Im Lon 2]

Color looks awesome in pic's how close are the pic's to the real view? Do you have any pic's of just the lights?

 

[Im Lon 2]

Never I went back a couple pages and found the pics.. Nice Very nice.

 

[tbone28]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11141800#post11141800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Im Lon 2
Color looks awesome in pic's how close are the pic's to the real view? Do you have any pic's of just the lights?

To my untrained eye, they seem to look the same