supplemental t-5 lighting

reefin101

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Tank: SPS dominate..... 66x36x24

I have been running 2 250w MH Phoenix 14K's on lumatek HQI setting. So far all is good for last 18 mos....
However i could use a little more light.
Hamilton cayman sun reflectors 12x12 and about 10" off water. Does a very good job w/ spread and light! Most rockwork is like 2 islands centered under the MH's w/ open swimming in midddle and edges. Lower light corals like zoa's etc are around edges. Pic below

I am planning on using and ice cap ballast and looks like I will be limited to 16' of bulbs and 440w.

Plan to run:
2 -60" 80w for most of the additional acctinic supplementation.

and then maybe and additional 4 -18" t-5's.......


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Hope this makes sense. Any ideas? Also what bulbs should i use. New to t-5. I will have the T-5's come on a tad before MH's so i want there to be somewhat decent color, biut I really want to accent the Phoenix 14k's and round out the spectrum while making the tank brighter and colors pop more.

here is a bad pic, but for referenc eof rock & corals
IMAG1290.jpg




Thanks,
 
I would think all you need is 2 60" bulbs. And use Geissmen True actinics. These do not have a lot of PAR, but definitely bring the pop you are looking for. They also have an actinic plus bulb which actually has quite a bit of PAR, but since you probably already have enough with your MH, I really dont think it will be necessary.
 
I was planning originally just the 2 60" bulbs. But do you think it will get too blue or washed out with the Phoenix 14k's. They are run on HQI, which does make them a bit whiter.

Hence why I was think adding a few extra bulbs. Maybe just 2 extra 24" one's on the front of the MH's? something to help the colors?
Then all I'd have would be 4 to replace every yr.
 

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