help with lighting ??????

[bazza1979]

hi people my 120g tank is open topped and i have a arcadia x4 t5 lighting unit hanging from the celling i was woundering how high should i hang it above the water ???? my tank is 5ft long and the lighting unit is 2ft 6in and hanging in center of my tank and the way my tank is set up i only want corals growing in the centre had light hanging about 10inches above water and the side of tank seem darker now just some ideas would be nice ??????

 

[Northstar24]

It doesn't matter how high you hang your fixture, if its only 2.5 feet long and your tank is 5 ft long the corners are going to look darker than the center of the tank where the fixture is located. How deep is your tank? If you have your 4 bulb T5 fixure 10+ inches above the water you arent going to get much penetration - so even low light corals will need to be in the top few inches of your tank...

Do the bulbs have individual reflectors, or is it one reflector for the whole fixture?

 

[bazza1979]

there is 1 reflecter per 2 bulbs and the way i have the tank set up my corals will only be in the centre of the tank ... i actually lowered the unit last night its now only 4/5 inches above the water now and the bulbs that are fitted are 14000k bulbs and have found some of the fish like the darker side of the tank !!!