Lighting

Rushy

Rushy

Reefing newb
Guys I'm in the need of some help and advice. I've spent an inordinate amount of time reading, which I've found to be an absolute must for this hobby (which suits anyway), however it does all sometimes get a little confusing as the information can be conflicting. I assume a lot of what I'm going to learn is going to be based on trial and error, and that is ok, I can live with that, however, I'm a bit of sponge, when it comes to having an interest in something. Furthermore I would like to limit the casualties along the way. My tank is still cycling and I'm in no hurry to stock, but at some point I'm going to want to get some corals and anemones in there. Question is this really, I've seen it written that if I have T8's I need at least 9w/g to enable anemones to benefit completely, which means for my tank I need at least 495W!!! T5's are considerably less at 4-5w/g. I know at some stage I'm going to have to look at changing my lighting setup, but any advice as to what I really need and how I get it would be great :D
 
How deep is your tank. I like halides myself but a lot of people have good results with T5. The thing that makes T5 so good is the individual reflectors. They really increase the amount of light the bulb puts out. You can't keep an anemone under T8 bulbs unless you have enough to land jets in your living room. If your tank is more than 18' deep I would go with halides myself.
Pick your lights for what you want in the future because they are to expensive to buy twice.
 
I have 6 HO T5's over my 46 gallon and can keep pretty much anything. Or so I'm told.

If I was lighting a 90 or bigger, I'd do a mix of hallide and T5's.
Halide for the growth and shimmer, T5 for the color.
 
d2mini said:
I have 6 HO T5's over my 46 gallon and can keep pretty much anything. Or so I'm told.

If I was lighting a 90 or bigger, I'd do a mix of hallide and T5's.
Halide for the growth and shimmer, T5 for the color.
Click to expand...


just go look at reefs tank it is a 210 and it has all t'5s 14 of them and he has great success with them you dont have to have mh bulbs. they are twice as expensive to buy run and maintain. dont get me wrong i do like mh lights also but when it comes to the heat that they produce and the power they use i prefer t'5s and i will use them until i get a huge tank someday. i have 8 54 bulbs on my 75
 
T-5s are great lights.I had a set of 8X 54 watts over my 75 gallon and kept an anemone in it for over a year.
But I'm gonna advise againt an anemone in a reef tank.All it takes to wipe out a butt load of corals,is for the anemone to decide to move across the tank.
 
t-5's are my choice, cheaper to buy, run and maintain. and if you get a set with good independent reflectors then you can keep anything your heart desires. but like yote said, if that anemone decides he wants to go for a midnight stroll across the tank, anything it comes into contact with is a goner
 
Keep in mind T5, T6, T12, etc. only means it's the diameter of the bulb.
A regular 48" T5 bulb is 28w, while a 48" T5 HO is 54w.
A regular 48" T12 is 40w, while a 48" T12 VHO is 110w.
 
I meant t5ho but thought everyone knew that. I should have made myself clearer that could be bad is someone thought they were ordering great lights. Then regular t5s showup and you can't keep corals to save your rear.
 
Also T5's run much cooler that MH. Many times a chiller or some type of cooling system is needed in conjunction with MH thereby increasing the end cost.
 
Oscarsdad608 said:
How deep is your tank. I like halides myself but a lot of people have good results with T5. The thing that makes T5 so good is the individual reflectors. They really increase the amount of light the bulb puts out. You can't keep an anemone under T8 bulbs unless you have enough to land jets in your living room. If your tank is more than 18' deep I would go with halides myself.
Pick your lights for what you want in the future because they are to expensive to buy twice.
Click to expand...

Tank is 500mm Deep so almost 20". I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to completely overhaul the lighting to get what I want, so the advice is really appreciated. :D
 
Guys, thanks for the great advice, really appreciated, I hope I've thanked everyone individually! This really is a cool place to be. New lighting is the way forward I think especially to get the effect I want, I guess that's the problem you face when you buy a tank with a lid (which originally wasn't the tank I wanted, but was trying to be practical due to other pets and the location of the tank), the wife will be happy!! :D:D
 
T5-HO lighting is very popular in Europe and here in the US/Canada too.Your system isn't very deep so I agree with everyone,T5-HO is the way to go.
 
Guys, been on Ebay and found a brand new Bowini Metal Halide Unit to fit my tank, the fella was selling it for £350.00 and I made him a cheeky offer of £175.00 (spec of lights are 2 x 150w/10,000K HQI Bulbs. 4 x 21w T5 Atinic Blue Tubes.), which he countered £199.00 with. Anyone out there know, before I splash the cash, if this is worthwhile or should I just save my money for now and get something like a Geissman or Tunze unit??? Help need quick, offer expires in 4 and half hours!! :mrgreen:
 

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