8 bulb t-5 lighting and sps

[Jeppeterpan]

I have a 72 gallon bow front w an 8 bulb x54 watt fixture. Currently running ati bulbs. 5 blue, 1 purple, 1 actinic. My tank depth is about 24 inches. I'm redoing my aquascaping (again!) and was wondering if the t5gave off enough par for sps placement on bottom of tank. I already have sps middle up and was wondering about placing along the bottom. I could experiment I guess, but I figure someone already tried. Thanks fellow reefers!

 

[falconerr]

Imo it should be just fine for sps near the bottom.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

 

[williamjacobs641]

They will grow. Well they did on the bottom of my 120 with 6 t5. Grew a little fast when I switched to 8 t5.

 

[jordan3548]

I have a 55 gallon with a 4x54 tek light and grow SPS just fine

 

[slugwall]

I just ordered 1 t5 8 bulb light for my 55gl 4 actinic and 4 10000, this should be more than atiquate... I may have to scale 2 whites back.

 

[Dowtish]

I just ordered 1 t5 8 bulb light for my 55gl 4 actinic and 4 10000, this should be more than atiquate... I may have to scale 2 whites back.

The fixture is going to be wider than your tank! hahaha! awesome.

I would look into doing a different combo of bulbs than that. Actinics don't give you growth, just pretty colors.

 

[slugwall]

I didn't think of that when I bought them but I figure an upgrade in tank is in my future What configuration do you recommend? sorry for high-jacking your post jeppeterpan

 

[Dowtish]

I didn't think of that when I bought them but I figure an upgrade in tank is in my future What configuration do you recommend? sorry for high-jacking your post jeppeterpan

just start searching ATI combinations threads, they are everywhere

 

[-Logzor]

The fixture is going to be wider than your tank! hahaha! awesome.

I would look into doing a different combo of bulbs than that. Actinics don't give you growth, just pretty colors.

Actually I would consider running more actincs, on my 90g I ended up running only 5 bulbs because 7 was too many (7 bulb fixture). You might end up frying things with 8 full PAR bulbs.

 

[FishBeard]

Actually I would consider running more actincs, on my 90g I ended up running only 5 bulbs because 7 was too many (7 bulb fixture). You might end up frying things with 8 full PAR bulbs.

I highly doubt anyone will fry any corals with 8 bulbs. Many of the most beautiful reef tanks are lit by 8-10 bulb t5 fixtures loaded with high quality bulbs. Just don't be foolish with your selections and set the fixture at an adequate distance above the tank, everything will be fine once acclimated.

 

[-Logzor]

I highly doubt anyone will fry any corals with 8 bulbs. Many of the most beautiful reef tanks are lit by 8-10 bulb t5 fixtures loaded with high quality bulbs. Just don't be foolish with your selections and set the fixture at an adequate distance above the tank, everything will be fine once acclimated.

You would be surprised, especially if you're running any white bulbs in the fixture. I don't necessarily mean "frying" them but enough light to cause photo-inhibition.

I experienced this problem in my last tank, corals near the top were getting well over 700 PAR, once I dropped down to 5 bulbs the color and growth improved dramatically.

Point being, you can actually get better growth and color but running the correct PAR levels rather than overdoing it. This can easily be solved by running fewer bulbs, 1-2 actinics, or simply cutting out all of the white spectrum bulbs.

 

[FishBeard]

You would be surprised, especially if you're running any white bulbs in the fixture. I don't necessarily mean "frying" them but enough light to cause photo-inhibition.

I experienced this problem in my last tank, corals near the top were getting well over 700 PAR, once I dropped down to 5 bulbs the color and growth improved dramatically.

Point being, you can actually get better growth and color but running the correct PAR levels rather than overdoing it. This can easily be solved by running fewer bulbs, 1-2 actinics, or simply cutting out all of the white spectrum bulbs.

Or you can just raise the fixture a few extra inches and call it a day. It's not rocket science. I had over 1300 par at the surface of my tank when it was SPS dominant and everything was fine. Color was great and stuff grew like weeds.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Thread has been cleaned up - please keep comments on topic and mature, or thread will have to be closed down.

 

[slugwall]

It was straight from the hip, the kind that I like... no dancing around the bushes!!! Thanks FishBeard!

 

[FishBeard]

It was straight from the hip, the kind that I like... no dancing around the bushes!!! Thanks FishBeard!

Your welcome. Just pm if you need any more help.

 

[-Logzor]

Anyways, I think running less light can sometimes be more beneficial, especially if you have tall-rockwork with corals growing in the upper 1/2 to 1/3 of the tank.

My corals developed deep/rich color, in contrast you see a lot of T5 tanks with washed/out pastel colors, I think this is partially due to too much light and running too many white spectrum bulbs.

Below is a sample of what my corals looked like when I was running fewer bulbs, 4 Blue+ and 1 Fiji Purple. This is straight out of the camera, no photo-editing, aside from cropping, etc. The colors on the scroll are a bit extreme (it wasn't actually that purple) but the color on the forest-fire digi is dead on to how it looked with the naked eye.

I had tried running more bulbs, an additional Blue+ and a AB Special, my corals would begin to appear more pale/washed out.

 

[slugwall]

This post was informative... I like the picture!!! very nice and the lighting looks great!

 

[KJAG]

Anyways, I think running less light can sometimes be more beneficial, especially if you have tall-rockwork with corals growing in the upper 1/2 to 1/3 of the tank.

My corals developed deep/rich color, in contrast you see a lot of T5 tanks with washed/out pastel colors, I think this is partially due to too much light and running too many white spectrum bulbs.

Below is a sample of what my corals looked like when I was running fewer bulbs, 4 Blue+ and 1 Fiji Purple. This is straight out of the camera, no photo-editing, aside from cropping, etc. The colors on the scroll are a bit extreme (it wasn't actually that purple) but the color on the forest-fire digi is dead on to how it looked with the naked eye.

I had tried running more bulbs, an additional Blue+ and a AB Special, my corals would begin to appear more pale/washed out.

Agreed. When I ran T5s my 6 bulb was all Blue+&Purple+ and coral color was very rich,tried an ABS but didn't like the look and it seemed to be too much. An 8 bulb is overkill imo unless dimmable, or over a deep/SPS dom tank.