6 vs 8 bulb t5 over 24x24x12 cube?

[Sayn3ver]

Shallow lagoon tank. Lots of zoa's along with a few tabling sps hopefully.

I know 6 lamps will give me the par. Worried about coverage. Am I better off with 6 lamps giving myself some lower light areas near the front and back of the tank or 8 bulb?

I have a feeling running even 6 bulbs on the 8 will be alot.

With the 6 lamp I figured 2 lamps to start then go to 4 most of the day, with one or two hours of 6 lamps and then reverse that down to 4 then 2 again.

Thoughts? Would prefer to have the fixture close to the tank/waters surface as this is setup in my living room and worried about light spill.

 

[A. grandis]

8 bulbs.
17.5" width.
6 - 8" from water surface.

 

[Sayn3ver]

Is that recommendation for high light coral only?

8 bulbs.
17.5" width.
6 - 8" from water surface.

 

[A. grandis]

That recommendation is for "reef system" in general.
If I had to cover that system and had only zoanthids I would do that way too.
You won't regret.

 

[Crashjack]

I think you will get a lot of light spillage with 8 bulbs unless you run pretty low. The ATI reflectors are really nice. For a tank that is only 12” deep, I would go with 6 and adjust height to where you are getting little to no spillage, and your tank should be chalk-full of light.

 

[Potatohead]

Agree that I would run 6 and run I higher up. I have eight bulb sunpower 10" over a 20" tall tank and grow acros on the bottom no problem. An eight bulb on a 12" tank for zoas seems completely ridiculous to be honest, probably 400+ par at the bottom of the tank.

 

[A. grandis]

Ridiculously amazing.

 

[Sayn3ver]

Is it possible to omitt one or two tubes that are powered by the same ballast in the 8 lamp setup?

I recall reading ati uses 2xlamp per ballast setups and just wires them together accordingly on the power cord end to make the 2x and 6x selection possible.

Or maybe add an additional power cord and split off another ballast to give me 2x 2x 4x control.

Or removed a ballast and add in led light bars and add additional panel mount plug in connectors to power them independently.

 

[A. grandis]

8 bulb ATI fixtures are 6 plus 2.
You can turn on only 6 if you want and use the other 2 as you wish in the photoperiod schedule.

 

[X-37B]

I run 8 over my 120 4" off the surface with no spillage.
6 bulb 10" off the surface in my 45 frag tank.

 

[Sayn3ver]

I run 8 over my 120 4" off the surface with no spillage.
6 bulb 10" off the surface in my 45 frag tank.

Do you find the 6 allows easier maintenance, feeding, etc? Im worried it would be more of a chore to work around a 17.5" fixture on a 24" tank than a 13.5" fixture with more raising and lowering vs a 6 bulb at 10" like you stated.

 

[Potatohead]

Do you find the 6 allows easier maintenance, feeding, etc? Im worried it would be more of a chore to work around a 17.5" fixture on a 24" tank than a 13.5" fixture with more raising and lowering vs a 6 bulb at 10" like you stated.

Depends on how high you have it. Mine is high enough it's not a concern.

Seriously, an eight bulb on a 12 inch tall tank that isn't 100% acros is extreme overkill. I would be surprised if zoas would even survive.

 

[A. grandis]

One can keep zoas touching the water surface 12" from 2 X 250W halide and 4 X 54W T5s with amazing results!
An 8 bulb ATI is nothing compared to that.

 

[A. grandis]

Do you find the 6 allows easier maintenance, feeding, etc? Im worried it would be more of a chore to work around a 17.5" fixture on a 24" tank than a 13.5" fixture with more raising and lowering vs a 6 bulb at 10" like you stated.

It's almost like you actually decided you will use the 6 bulb fixture before you even posted asking for the "best choice". If that's the case you should get what you want and call it a day. You certainly will be able to work with that 6 bulb fixture.
Some times we need to say what people want to hear.

 

[Sayn3ver]

It's almost like you actually decided you will use the 6 bulb fixture before you even posted asking for the "best choice". If that's the case you should get what you want and call it a day. You certainly will be able to work with that 6 bulb fixture.
Some times we need to say what people want to hear.

On the contrary I was ready to pull the trigger on an 8 due to dimensions alone (3" coverage per bulb).

Mine concern was throttling back the 8. Even 6 bulbs may be alot starting. I am planning on fabricating a custom bracket/pair of feet for the unit or modifying a pair giesemann universal legs.

Talking 3-4" above the water on a 12" tank.

I've run a 48" Tek 4 lamp before on a 33 long (48x12x12) many years ago starting out so i am somewhere familiar with t5 performance.

I saw alot of recommendations for lighting I'm 25g lagoons saying 6 is enough so it got me thinking.

 

[homer1475]

I run an ATI 6 bulb sunpower over my 80 cube thats 24 inches tall. I run them about 8" off the water and get a decent 260 par at the sanbed.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Either one will give you plenty of light. 8 bulb version too high over the tank will spill a lot of light.

My favorite light fixtures!

 

[X-37B]

Frag tank is easy. DT the fixture sits on TSlot siliconed onto the rim and can slide on door sliders out of the way. Makes it easy to work on the tank.

 

[x2uranium]

T5 power!
Also this is from an amazon “grow light” 8 bulb fixture. IMHO 6 bulb would have been sufficient. These bulbs are 2 years old also and still getting excellent color and growth.