upgrading from 4 bulb to 6 bulb T5 fixture - make a difference?

Would upgrading from a 4 bulb T5 fixture to a 6 bulb fixture make a difference with coral growth and lighting?

The tank is a 1 year and 3 months old 46 bowfront with a little bit of everything in it from acros to birdsnest, various shrooms, softies, zoanthids, montiporas, GSP, etc. Mainly concerned about the effect on monipora and acros.

Could we possibly have a clam if we did that?

 

three things.. SLR (single light reflectors, great PAR bulbs (ie.ati,uvl,geissman) and a good ballast pushing them) = makes a big difference.

you can have a moderate/maybe high light demanding clam now HIGH^UP in the tank.. what t5 fixture do you have now and what bulbs and how old are the bulbs..

 

What night-rida said, it will definitely help with a high quality unit and high quality bulbs. Stay away from pure actiinic bulbs they have minimal PAR.

 

You can probably have a clam now, as said, just keep it high up. If everything is growing nicely and has good color, not browned out, then I wouldn't upgrade, why change something that isn't broken?

 

Metal Halides dude.

 

use ati blue plus for replacement of your actinic bulbs.. will give a nice blue tint and high par needed for your future clam. you'll probly want 1 or 2 bulbs in the 10k-14k range too.

 

it will definitely help. Id go with 3 ATI blue plus, 2 ATI actinic white, and 1 Fiji Purple for some awesome coral colors youve never seen before! or maybe you have... but i should didnt

 

I upgraded from 4 to 6 and as stated above use good SLR's, High quality bulbs and ballasts.
My combo is 3X ATI BluePlus, ATI 12000k Blue special, UVL 75/25 white actinic and GE 6500k full spectrum daylight. I've noticed considerable growth especially in my purple ribbon gorg that looked like a stick for months and is now growing branches. I could keep a Derasa anywhere in the tank and would feel comfortable with a crocea mid to high level. Hope this helps;D

 

are there any non-retro T5 SLR setups? i seem to not be able to find any on the first site im browsing...

 

check out aquatic life on marine depot.. ;D