what corals with t5 lighting?

[Nemoose]

30 gallon reef, 10 gallon sump, skimmer, biocube powerhead, marineland HOB for extra flow, 4 x 39W t5 half 10K, half actinic., 3" sand bed.
pygmy cherub angel, mated pair of maroon clowns, feather duster and the normal CUC

The tank is well established and I currently have finger leathers, xenia, GSP,and a large bubble tip anemone.. They are all doing well I would like to try some higher light corals but I am a little concerned about what I can keep alive with the lighting I have. The light is about 13" from the top of the sand bed. The corals are on live rock above that level. The anemone likes to stay higher up on my overflow box. So I am wondering if the light on the bottom is a little weak for it. What do you think?

 

[returnofsid]

The success of T5HO lighting depends on a couple of things...
1. ICR. Individually Contoured Reflector. This is a reflector that's bent or molded around each bulb, instead of a flat, parabolic reflector. Having an ICR is critical to T5HO success. Lesser T5HO fixtures are not built with ICR.

2. Advanced Electronic Ballasts. Again, lesser fixtures are built with a lower quality ballast.

3. Bulb selection. There are really good bulbs available, in T5HO, though lower quality fixtures are stocked with very low quality bulbs. Your 10K and Actinic bulbs are probably lower quality. Look for ATI Blue Plus and ATI Aquablue Specials.

If your fixture meets all 3 criteria, you can grow whatever you want, where ever you want, in your tank.

 

[Nemoose]

This is the specific light I have. 36" Aquarium T5 HO Light 156W LED Coral Reef Fish Odyssea CE | eBay
Except mine doesn't have the moonlights.

 

[ironworker]

This is the specific light I have. 36" Aquarium T5 HO Light 156W LED Coral Reef Fish Odyssea CE | eBay
Except mine doesn't have the moonlights.

those fixtures can be ok. but i would highly recommend changing out all bulbs. i would use either giesseman or ati bulbs. you will be happily surprised with the difference trust me.

 

[Nemoose]

I was looking at the ATI bulbs. Which ones would you recommend? The aquablue plus, the coral blue plis or a mix of those or the others available, purple plus or true blue?

 

[returnofsid]

I would recommend a 50/50 mix of ATI Blue Plus and ATI Aquablue Specials. That's about what I've ran, over my 200DD, for several years.

The ad does not indicate what type of reflector and also doesn't specify "Advanced" Electronic Ballast, so I would suspect that it has a standard Electronic Ballast and crummy Parabolic Reflectors.