Lighting

[Fastlight]

Well i need bulbs for my light. The 75 gallon system that was given to me had all but 1 blown out. I want a reef tank(live rock, corals, and fish) I want a nice t5 setup with halogens but it will take me a long time to save up for. I was wondering with this 4 lamp light that has 4 moon led would be good to get me started on some easier corals and fish.

Next what bulbs to get. They are 65w straight compact flor. I was thinking 2 10,000k and 2 50/50 bulbs up front. the half actinic and half 10,000k? is that a good start or does anyone have a better suggestion.


Thanks for any help.

[Oscarsdad608]

I would get 2 10ks and 2 full actincs. with the 50/50 and 10k it will be pretty white.

[yote]

Thats actually about your only choice,but it only gives you a little over 3 watts per gallon.
I think you'd be pretty limited in corals.

[lightcs4]

I would wait and save for the lights you want rather than spend it twice. You can get some T5's that will allow you to keep most corals. You may have to watch the placement of them in the tank (put them higher). It is probably the best way to go if you really want corals.

[Fastlight]

ive been trying to understand these t5's. I mean i can understand getting the t5 and mh combos. There are alot of watts pouring out of those. But heres the thing. If i run the current light set up with 2 actinic and 2 10000k thats 4x65=260 75 gallon tank and ur looking at just shy of 3.5 watts per gallon. Now if im thinking correctly reef tanks need what 4-6 watts per gallon? I see alot of 4 lamp t-5 lights out there running at what? 4x54=216w/75=2.88w/gal. so unless everyone is getting the 8 lamp models for there reef tanks which would then double the w/gal. what are so special about these t-5ho? also i read that the actinic bulbs are good for reef tanks cause of the ?450nm? color spectrum. so can u just run metal halides if you wanted with no actinics/t-5? im just trying to wrap my head around things.

[Alexander]

T5 bulbs don't really measure off your same wpg rating. They have really good penetration and even if its less than you would normally need with a different type light you can typically keep just about anything in there, just keep in mind the high intensity sps will have to be kept at the top.

[Oscarsdad608]

The t5 lights are great if you get the individual reflectors. If you want just halides you can run a higher kalvin rating like 15k or 20k bulbs and you don't need actinics.

[Fastlight]

So then if t-5 rated the same could you use a 4 bulb system such as
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2&pcatid=12772 ? and still be able to have live coral and such? or would you have to run like a 6 or 8 bulb system. Btw i just realized this thread should be in the lighting section of the forum(my bad) Can anyone link me to a good informative lighting website? all the books i borrowed from the library are just to old.

[yote]

With T-5s,you get more light per watt used.Or something like that.
I know that I got 432 watts of T-5s lighting up my 75 with SPS and an anemone.And I have to start all my new corals on the bottom to keep from bleaching them.

[Piggy]

See if this help.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/lig...a/aa022800.htm