I inherited a 40 gallon reef tank a year ago and went to my local fish store this past weekend to replace my coralife square pin compact fluorescent bulbs ($100 each), but the owner sold me a Coralife HO T5 set up instead ($200) - noting that bulbs will be cheaper ($40) to replace in a year and it’s better quality lighting.
I've read and read and read about lighting, and while much of it is over my head, from what I can see, the high output T5's are comparable to the CFs - if not better at penetrating the bottom (as well as energy efficient).
**What I can't tell is if I'm getting sufficient light for my size of tank and corals (soft).
The 40 gallon (36x24x12) has 60 lbs of live rock, canister filtration and skimmer.
It has two clowns and two damsels, plus a handful of snails/crabs.
I have brown hairy mushrooms, frogspawn, a couple zoos, a green hairy carpet thing, a couple of bubble corals and a couple anemone type softies as well. I want to stay with soft coral only.
THE OLD BULBS:
Coralife CF 10,000 K 96 watt and arctinic 96 watt
THE NEW BULBS:
Coralife T5 10,000 k 39 watt and arctinic 39 watt
I called the people back today after seeing the new set up on the tank and fearing it's dimmer. Essentially, the store owner inferred that I'm the dimmer. Can someone either put my fear to rest that I'm not getting my corals enough light or tell me "yeah, either replace the higher wattage CF's or sink another $200 into a second T5 unit for 4 bulbs total"
PLEASE help. I'm unravelling.
I've read and read and read about lighting, and while much of it is over my head, from what I can see, the high output T5's are comparable to the CFs - if not better at penetrating the bottom (as well as energy efficient).
**What I can't tell is if I'm getting sufficient light for my size of tank and corals (soft).
The 40 gallon (36x24x12) has 60 lbs of live rock, canister filtration and skimmer.
It has two clowns and two damsels, plus a handful of snails/crabs.
I have brown hairy mushrooms, frogspawn, a couple zoos, a green hairy carpet thing, a couple of bubble corals and a couple anemone type softies as well. I want to stay with soft coral only.
THE OLD BULBS:
Coralife CF 10,000 K 96 watt and arctinic 96 watt
THE NEW BULBS:
Coralife T5 10,000 k 39 watt and arctinic 39 watt
I called the people back today after seeing the new set up on the tank and fearing it's dimmer. Essentially, the store owner inferred that I'm the dimmer. Can someone either put my fear to rest that I'm not getting my corals enough light or tell me "yeah, either replace the higher wattage CF's or sink another $200 into a second T5 unit for 4 bulbs total"
PLEASE help. I'm unravelling.
