Lighting advice....

If I am planning on just keeping basic corals like polyps, leathers and zoos can I get away with just using a t5 fixture or do I still need a mh?

 

T5 will be fine

Id suggest 4 lamps minimum and then your list of corals can be increased to include LPS and some SPS corals ( aquacultured ones are best bet) will do fine provided your water quality is good and parameters are constant

with 6 x T5 tubes , IME your good for almost any light dependant coral

Steve

 

Steve,
Thanks for the feed back. I havent been able to find a 24" 6 bulb fixture for my tank. This is the one I am thinking about getting...

IceCap Reef Illuminations T5 + Tubular LED Moonlights (470nm Actinic LED) Fixture

Thoughts?

 

Never had one but it looks good to me
I like the fact it comes with LED moonlights
and the fact it has seperate power cords so you can have the Actinic lamps and the daylight lamps coming on and off in stages
that fixture with good quality tubes such as ATI or Geisseman 2 x actinic and 2 x 10k OR 14k white tubes and you will be good for a variety of corals as far as lighting is concerned
Steve

 

Aquarium Lighting T5 Fluorescent Light Fixture: AquaticLife T5 HO and Lunar Light Fixtures





How about this??? I like the way it has 1 power cord and 3 timers;D

 

Steve,
I just looked at the ATI PM fixture on reefgeek and they have the 4 bulb model with bulbs for $479. Which bulbs are you using on yours?

 

using a mix of Geisseman and aquamedic lamps on my T5 fixture
I have 6 lamps and currently have 2 x Powerchrome 22K G - 2 x Aquablue 14K G and 2 x Aquamedic reef white 15K

Its a bluish tint tank but not overly blue and I achieved decent coloration and growth on many corals with that combo

Steve

 

I would suggest staying away from the GE 6500K and Geisemann 6000K and 11000K aquablue as they have been linked with fading colors. They are awesome for growth though.

 

Which brand are those 11k aquablues, 2in10?

 

Geisemann

I have first hand knowledge with the GE. I lost most greens on corals. My LPS and softies all ejected most of their zooxanthellae, my superman montipora lost its blue and the polyps faded, most polyps faded on the montis. Acros seem to be mostly unaffected except for some loss of green. My other SPS had some fading of color.