Psychedelic Fins
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2020
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 152
- Location
- Plant City
- What state or country do you live in
- Florida
Summary: 180 gallon new build. Going partly/mostly/all t5s. Want to add some shimmer and lighten the tank up a bit. Thoughts/suggestions???
Back story: I was into reefing 2001-2006ish. Had a 90 gallon with fluorescent lighting. Wet/dry sump, bio balls, DSB, all the standard stuff at the time. I kept mushrooms, hammers, leather corals with moderate success. Then life got in the way and I have been out of the hobby since.
Flash forward to September 2020 and Mrs. Tampa Mark asks if we can put a tank in the wall between the living room and the bedroom. Love that woman! Since then, I have been researching the heck out of all the new best practices. Yeah, things have changed a bit. I have been putting together "the plan" ever since. Our goal is to set up the tank to allow for any corals we choose down the road. Definitely won't get into an SPS dominant tank, but would like the ability to keep some. I have most of the "plan" figured out. Been taking advantage of BRS sales recently and have bought a lot of my gear. Tank arrives the week after Thanksgiving.
The one area I cannot commit to is my lighting. LEDs were not in the picture when I was into the hobby and now seem to dominate it. Here is my dilemma:
Back story: I was into reefing 2001-2006ish. Had a 90 gallon with fluorescent lighting. Wet/dry sump, bio balls, DSB, all the standard stuff at the time. I kept mushrooms, hammers, leather corals with moderate success. Then life got in the way and I have been out of the hobby since.
Flash forward to September 2020 and Mrs. Tampa Mark asks if we can put a tank in the wall between the living room and the bedroom. Love that woman! Since then, I have been researching the heck out of all the new best practices. Yeah, things have changed a bit. I have been putting together "the plan" ever since. Our goal is to set up the tank to allow for any corals we choose down the road. Definitely won't get into an SPS dominant tank, but would like the ability to keep some. I have most of the "plan" figured out. Been taking advantage of BRS sales recently and have bought a lot of my gear. Tank arrives the week after Thanksgiving.
The one area I cannot commit to is my lighting. LEDs were not in the picture when I was into the hobby and now seem to dominate it. Here is my dilemma:
- My comfortability lies with t5s given my history. I also see BRS (and others) putting out videos trying to get their LEDs to perform like t5s. So I have to ask, why bother with LEDs?
- I walk into the LFS and see blue tanks. Too much blue for my liking. The tanks look dark to me so I want to brighten my tank up a bit.
- I do, however, like a little shimmer that I see in the tanks that T5s cannot provide. Not disco fever shimmer, but a little is nice (at least to Mrs. Tampa Mark and me)
- I am a woodworker and will be building a canopy to accommodate whatever lighting I end up going with.
- I have already purchased a couple 60" T5 retrofit kits from BRS that will be incorporated into the canopy.
