I started this post in the general reefkeeping area, but have moved it over here because its about lighting. As I said my LFS man vetoed all but 2 of the corals on my wish list. My answer to the problem is for him to take the T5 lights back, they have barley been used, I didnt want to run them for the most part because I didnt have anything in the tank untill last night and I wanted to have as little of an alage problem as I could, also when I got this tank He asked me what my plans for this tank were, and I told him then that I wanted to grow corals. His solution to the problem: You have 4 T5 lights in your tank, take 2 of them and move them to the back part portion of your canopy and take the 2 remaining T5 lights and move them to the front portion of your canopy, then run the new stronger lights down the middle, thus haveing 2 different types of lights in the tank set-up. This dosn't make to much since to me but I will defer this problem to smarter minds then mine, what do ya'll think???
What should I do
- Thread starter strout
- Start date
Just a thought, lol. I could ..... Have the LED night lights on, then using a timer in the morning have 2 of the T5s come on and LEds turn offsay an hour later the other set of T5s come on, then awhile later have the stronger lights down the middle come on and have the T5s turn off, then in the afternoon have both sets of T5s come on and have the stronger lights turn off, at sunset have one set of T5s turn off and have the LEDs come on and then at dark have the last set of T5s turn off and have the LEDs on the rest of the night, I would just need 10sets of timers. lol
T5 themselves are not a bad light source...you just need a lot of them to achieve the same growth and color of metal halides. I see quite a few high light corals on your wish list, T5 would be fine but you would need quite a few more bulbs. Im going with what your lfs said to do move the t5s from the center...i would then recommend some type of halide lighting and use your existing t5 lighting as actinic supplemental lighting. as far as halides go HQI are more intense and energy efficient, however they are more expensive then traditional mogul based halide. I would recommend 3x 175 watt or 150 watt halide bulbs over a 6ft tank...you may be able to get away with two higher wattage halides but you risk overshadow
Well who am I kidding, I am going to get some lights. My canopy space is small maybe 8 to 9 inches. I found these lights, good enough are not??
Hamilton 150w 10K HQI ReefStar Pendant System: Premium Aquatics
Was going to order two of them, if you give me the go ahead.
Hamilton 150w 10K HQI ReefStar Pendant System: Premium Aquatics
Was going to order two of them, if you give me the go ahead.
I can't make heads or tails on the invoice the company sent me, it appears that my lights might have been back ordered, I have another E-mail sent to the company trying to find out just what the status of my lights are, Its not that I need the lights right away, I don't, but the invoice they sent me is kinda confusing. Are these the lights I need ? The LFS man told me to get 250w 20K lights, the man at the company I ordered the lights told me to order these same lights, but another person told me to get 250w 10K or 14K lights, he says that the 20K lights don't put out as much PAR as the 10 and 14 K lights do. I don't know what this means. I know 5 differant people will have differant opinions, just wondering, if the lights are back ordered I have time to change the order. The main corals I will be wanting to grow will be Acropora, Birds Nest and Montipona corals.