aquaticlife t5

i have this T5 HO fixture over my 55gal tank ((48 LX 13"W X 19"H):
aquaticlife T6 HO

i have the 48" model of course. will it be ok with SPS corals? i heard different opinions about it, some say it got to do with the depth of the tank, some say differently.
what do you say?

 

should be fine. place sps coral towards top 1/3 of tank. try a frag or two and wait a couple months, if they live and so growth.. go buy some more.. good ati/uvl/giessman replacement bulbs will help if your bulbs are over 6 months old.

 

I have it and my corals have been growing for over a year.. just keep them in the top 1/3rd of the tank.

 

great! thank you

 

T5's are great in that they give a mixture of bulbs so as to capture the colors that you want to come out in your corals without the heat of the metal haliodes and I have no other problems with MH's except the heat. SPS will grow fine in the upper part of the reef.

You'll want to look into getting better bulbs right away if you have the bucks. They average about $22 each but they last a good while. I have 2 fixtures and the bulbs in my 4' are about 18 months old and the 2' fixture is 14 months old and they are still alive and kicking. I say get them right away so all your corals get accustomed to the lights from the get go. Generic bulbs are to harsh and stark for my taste but that's just me. I wanted a bluer look in my tank.

If you want a bluer look I can recommend some bulbs to you. These bulbs are not usually found in LFS' because they can't compete with online merchandisers and prefer to sell the same junk everyone else sells. Anyway, go to reefgeek.com and look at the T5 bulbs they have there. I like the ATI Blue Plus for that soft but penetrating 450nm blue. On a 4x54 fixture I'd put one on the back and one on the front. In the middle you may want to get other idea's but I would put an ATI Aquablue 12K and either another ATI Aquablue or UVL 75/25 14K or GE 6500K daylight or UVL Aquasun 10K (pink). I would buy 2 ATI Aquablue and see how you like that because you can always save one for next time you need to replace.

 

wow, thanx!

so i decided to go with you recommendations: i'm gonna get 2 ATI Blue Plus 2 ATI 12000K Aquablue Special and 1 UVL 75/25 14K.

i'll post a picture once installed.