new reef aquarium

[maccawc]

good evening. i am planning to build a marine aquarium i found a modern one the really in love with it but i have 2 doubt thing 1 they don't have a sump so i need to make external filter and external skimmer the size of the tank is 120x40x50 2 thing that he only have 4 t5 39 watt is that good for corals for soft coral i read you dont need to much light but for hard coral is that good? sry but i am new to marine aquarium. any suggestion will be appreciate

thanks

 

[Sakura2282]

I'm not sure if just the T5s will do it for hard corals they do demand a lot of light. Hope someone with experience on this can answer your question. Good luck!

 

[Aquarian]

How many gallons or liters is the tank? I'm guessing the measurements you've given are CM?

 

[Marines_Wife]

t5 generally arent a coral grower. At all. If it is a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) it would be fine because fish really dont discriminate on light. Traditionally people go with metal halide for lights, however there has been a growing movement into LED lights. Secondly there is an entire possibility that instead of running it with a sumo he was running it with canister filters. Not a good choice for saltwater aquariums but ok for freshwater. Was this thing existing as a salt system before you bought it?

 

[emmett0122]

t5-ho will grow grow corals. a 6-54w bulb t5-ho fixture would work, you can get a HOB over flow and a 10gal tank to use for a sump

 

[Lesely]

t5 generally arent a coral grower. At all. If it is a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) it would be fine because fish really dont discriminate on light. Traditionally people go with metal halide for lights, however there has been a growing movement into LED lights. Secondly there is an entire possibility that instead of running it with a sumo he was running it with canister filters. Not a good choice for saltwater aquariums but ok for freshwater. Was this thing existing as a salt system before you bought it?

I have T5 and have amazing growth & colour on ALL my corals. I have approx 35 and have never lost 1. T5 is fine !!!!!!

 

[Greenman]

I'm not sure why T5's have a bad rep sometimes. I use 6 T5HOs on my 55g and my coral growth is fine, anemone's are happy.

 

[Lesely]

I'm not sure why T5's have a bad rep sometimes. I use 6 T5HOs on my 55g and my coral growth is fine, anemone's are happy.

I run the ATI 8 x 80w and like you have very healthy anemones too !!! lol

 

[emmett0122]

I ran 4 54w bulbs on my 55 and all was fine.

 

[Greenman]

I've been looking at LED's but with 6 t5's i really cannot justify the price for a shimmer effect.

 

[emmett0122]

I know d2mini went back to MH and t5 combo and has had better growth and has a better shimmer effect in the tank I was going to go with leds till I saw the difference in his tank it brighter and better color in the coral I now have MH and t5 combo over my 150gal tank (the MH came with the tank) but I was going to do MH and t5 combo over my 55 but I'm selling the 55 now that I have the 150

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

The only reason I switched off of t5's is because I wanted to control the lights with ramping, there is nothing wrong with T5HO lighting.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

I'm not sure why T5's have a bad rep sometimes. I use 6 T5HOs on my 55g and my coral growth is fine, anemone's are happy.

This is the first time I've heard they were bad? I learn everyday.

 

[Big K]

I changed to LED from my T5 because of bulb costs. Plus I can control it by the 1/2 hr. and get some nice effects out of it. All for the price of replacing the bulbs 3 times. The fixture will last way longer than 3 sets of T5s would.

 

[Lesely]

I changed to LED from my T5 because of bulb costs. Plus I can control it by the 1/2 hr. and get some nice effects out of it. All for the price of replacing the bulbs 3 times. The fixture will last way longer than 3 sets of T5s would.

Have a very experienced reef keeper that has some amazing corals. He rushed out and bought the new radon pro's as soon as the new ones hit the market. Within a few weeks started loosing colour and some actually closed up. & died. He now runs a combination of T5 & LED. He believes t5 for health & growth and LED to show off colour ! What's your thoughts on that ? If u look at the market places on line a lot of people are getting rid of their LED's. Why ?

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Have a very experienced reef keeper that has some amazing corals. He rushed out and bought the new radon pro's as soon as the new ones hit the market. Within a few weeks started loosing colour and some actually closed up. & died. He now runs a combination of T5 & LED. He believes t5 for health & growth and LED to show off colour ! What's your thoughts on that ? If u look at the market places on line a lot of people are getting rid of their LED's. Why ?

They change them up because they can adjust them. They are always adjusting and adjusting... I have great color and growth, but not a show tank with 1000 dollar frags. Alot on "reef capable" leds don't come with uv built in or if so they aren't adjustable with a fixed rate of 420nm, and the rest of the range is untouched. With radion, you can adjust every color imaginable and I personally don't know if red or green or yellow lights do anything for corals, but more of preference. The technology is there, it's how much you want to tinker or adjust. There are tons of folks that haven't switched back, but more of the high end reef keepers do. I fall somewhere in the middle as well as 80% of the hobbiest. I can't afford to switch back or would want to. Imo.