I have a 110G deep tank

[Ariel110G]

Hey guys, I have a 110G deep tank, the light that I have is a Coralife 48" PC 4X65W a total of 260W, I was told that is not that good for my tank if I want to keep some corals, so I was thinking to add Coralife 48" T5 light fixture, that one with just 2, will that help, I can't spend on MH or LED, I dont know what to do.:frustrat:

 

[Brian_G]

I love tall tanks, I think they look great. as far as lighting goes. the power compact lighting wont do a whole lot for depth. and just adding the 2 t5s wont add a whole lot. if you want to keep softies, zoas and non photosynthetic corals then you may be alright. but sps and lps are pretty much a no go.

for that tank you would really need 6 or better yet, 8 bulb t5 fixture for lps.
If you want to get into the sps realm, then you would most likely need 10 bulbs or a mh fixture. with mh you will get better depth penetration and be able to keep more corals lower than you will with the t5s.

and im assuming you meant cant and not can on your last statement

 

[Ariel110G]

Thanks for the help, I as well like deep tanks, so I was looking at this: Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting

48" 216W (4x 54W) T5 HO Light Fixture Extendable Series

For $100 that's not bad will that help??

 

[little_fish]

You should get some sort of metal halide setup to deal with the depth of you tank if you want to keep corals at all levels of your tank

 

[cms722]

Would that light be good enough for a 55gal? It seems like a good price but I don't know alot about them lol

 

[Ariel110G]

Would that light be good enough for a 55gal? It seems like a good price but I don't know alot about them lol

Yes it will.

 

[cms722]

Haha awesome! I've been looking everywhere for something that would work. I don't wanna skimp but I don't have too much to spend either

 

[Zissou]

If you don't have the money for it, then you'll have to skip on corals for awhile until you can. Better off saving until you can afford a proper lighting setup, instead of spending it on one that won't get you where you want to go.

 

[cms722]

Yea I totally agree. That's why I was asking about the fixture that Ariel posted. Because it looked like, from what everyone has been telling me, to be what I needed.

 

[Sir Alex]

I think this would be plenty. 48 inch 8x54W Sunlight Supply Tek Light High Output Fluorescent Lighting Fixture

 

[marcah]

I would stay away from the odyssea with a deeper tank.. the light is just not built for it.. I had one and it is fine in a shallower tank but without the independent reflectors you just dont get alot of light out of them.. this light would be much better for you or one like it..Catalina Aquarium

 

[Ariel110G]

Yea I totally agree. That's why I was asking about the fixture that Ariel posted. Because it looked like, from what everyone has been telling me, to be what I needed.

For your 55 its good, the problem with me that my tank is a 110G deep

 

[marcah]

Ariel110G if you go with a 8 bulb t-5 as long as your going with low light corals near the bottom you will be fine but if you want clams or any higher need corals I would really look into a metal halide/t-5 combo or LED'S... my 150 is 27 deep and I couldnt keep anything but low light corals near the bottom so I switched lighting..

 

[Ariel110G]

Ariel110G if you go with a 8 bulb t-5 as long as your going with low light corals near the bottom you will be fine but if you want clams or any higher need corals I would really look into a metal halide/t-5 combo or LED'S... my 150 is 27 deep and I couldnt keep anything but low light corals near the bottom so I switched lighting..

Ok cool, so if I have to go with MH, I will like to know what is the diffrance in the MH Pendants from Aquarium sites to the ones that home depot sells, MH is MH no??

 

[Zissou]

No, I don't think MH is MH. I know you're on a budget but you might just want to get enough light for a fish only setup until you can afford better lights. There's very few corners you can cut in this hobby, and unfortunately for corals, lighting isn't really one of them.

You can buy a 48" 2x250 watt MH setup for about $400 (without ballasts) to $700 (with ballasts). Should be more than enough to keep almost any coral you want.

Something like this:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Aqua_Med...res-Aqua_Medic_USA-AQ19711-FILTFIMHMT-vi.html

 

[grumpy]

look on craigslist and ebay. some times you can find pretty good deals
on both sites. that way you can save your $ until you can afford what you really want.
that's just my:twocents:.

 

[fastrd400]

Look for something similar to this 48in 2x250W MH + 2xT5 + LED Aquarium Light Fixture

A pair of pendents would also work well for this size tank.

 

[Ariel110G]

Well one of the guys from marinedepot told me that if I got with 2 of the Ecoxotic Panorama Pro LED Module
and add that to my light fixture that I have now, then ill be good for corals, then another day I did call them agen & this other guy told me no they will not be good, he told me to add a T5 light fixture, & I did call Coralife & they told me as well that if I will add a T5 fixture ill be good for corals & now most of you guys are telling me to go with
MH!!!! :frustrat::frustrat: im going crazy!!! I NEED TO GET SOME THING BEFOR MY WIFE GETS BACK FROM VACATION

 

[Brian_G]

well the guys from marinedepot are sales people and they will try to sell you the most expensive fixture they have which they pretty much led you to.

I would go with an 8 or 10 bulb t5 fixture or a 2X250 watt MH fixture.

you need to decide on what kind of corals you want to keep then that will tell you what to get. SPS(acroporas, montipora...), clams, etc will need the MH because it will penetrate your deeper water better. and you will be able to put them throughout most of your tank and then the LPS(duncans, acans, hammer) to softies(zoas, leathers...) throughout the lower parts of the tank.

If you go with the t5s then you can pretty much count out most SPS and just stick with LPS and softies throughout your tank.

its all up to you and what you want to grow.

edit, the led lights the marine depot guy led you to will not support corals, they are usually used as supplement lighting for MH lights. they have low PAR (rating of intensity of lighting)

 

[Zissou]

Well one of the guys from marinedepot told me that if I got with 2 of the Ecoxotic Panorama Pro LED Module
and add that to my light fixture that I have now, then ill be good for corals, then another day I did call them agen & this other guy told me no they will not be good, he told me to add a T5 light fixture, & I did call Coralife & they told me as well that if I will add a T5 fixture ill be good for corals & now most of you guys are telling me to go with
MH!!!! :frustrat::frustrat: im going crazy!!! I NEED TO GET SOME THING BEFOR MY WIFE GETS BACK FROM VACATION

We're telling you to go Metal Halide because they have a beautiful shimmer, penetrate deeply into your tank, and are 'cheap' in comparison to LED. The debate between which one is better (LED or MH) is still a hot topic, but LED's create little heat and use significantly less watts = easier on the wallet when it comes to bills, and easier to control the temp of your tank. Nobody is recommending them to you because you look like you're on a budget, and an LED setup will easily cost two to three times more than an equivalent MH setup.

T5's are even cheaper. If you put your corals higher in the tank then you should be ok. The downside is that there's no shimmer, but you there's a lot more choices for color.

I'd take metal halides with T5 supplements, or LED, over an all T5 setup. The shimmer is worth it to me.