T5 light wattage

Hey all

Am i right in thinking that the higher the wattage the brighter the light therefore better for coral??

i currently have x2 T5 @ 24w - im thinking of searching for a more powerful watt if this is the case.

thanks in advance

 

Is that for a 2 foot tank? I believe that is the highest wattage available for T5. Your better off to add bulbs

 

yeh after a little looking i've come to realise that at 438mm you cant get higher then 24w.

I might look into adding some bulbs then - not to sure where to start tho and i like the lid on my tank.

 

I am running 4 T5's in my tank and I have a mixture of some LPS and SPS corals. The SPS frags are currently mid way up the tank and one of my monti's has already quadrupled in size. I have seen some great examples of tanks running on T5's which house mainly SPS and even clam's. If and when you get some corals get some frags rather than a big collony and see how they go.

 

i only put soft corals in my tank and even then i put them at the top - and they are all doing great! I just wish my lighting was a bit better. i dont know much about lighting but id like maybe to boost it a little

 

You say you want your lighting to be a bit better, by that do you mean the colour or are you looking to add some LPS or SPS corals?

 

im quite happy with the type of corals i have, but im restricted to placing them at the top, as my tank is quite deep.
I dont really want to get a completely different head unit as i paid to upgrade the one i have - and its designed for my tank so i still get to keep a closed tank.
Im just wondering if there is anything i can do to make the lighting stronger? I thought maybe getting higher watt tubes but for the size i need they dont come any higher then 24w.
Maybe im searching for a lost cause??

 

Well, my tank is 24" deep and 48" in length, so I'm running the 54w T5's. I can squeeze 4 tubes in the hood. As I said, I have some SPS which are roughly 10" from the surface and are growing really well. I don't think the wattage is that important it's more down to the kelvin ratings (that's what I believe anyway!). The wattage is based on the size of the tube and not the light output, the bigger the tube the more watts are needed to power it. There are loads of posts on this forum on this subject so it's worth having a look.
If you are running T5's and you've got some decent bulbs then I wouldn't of thought you need to have your softies at the top of the tank. If you want to try something different then look at getting a different make of tube to what you have at the moment.

 

thanks for your advice

 

Are the bulbs HO or VHO. couldnt you just put in a ballast made to drive t-5 HO bulbs and replace the bulbs if you have too. also look at individual reflectors. these gather 360 degrees of light and place it in your tank!