Lighting

saltydog · Post by **saltydog** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:38 pm

I have 115 gal DAS tank. I did have VHO's but when it was time to replace them I got a T5 fixture. It has 4 lights( 2 white, 2 blue ) and 48" long. Will this sustain most coral?

carlab · Post by **carlab** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 10:33 pm

Does the fixture have individual reflectors for each bulb? This is necessary to be successful with SPS and clams. Also 4 bulbs might not be enough for this size tank even with individual reflectors. I have a 75G with 6bulb 54W. It is a Tek light retro kit so has parabolic reflectors for each bulb. I have mostly SPS and they are growing well.
Carla

Post by **snoopdog** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:22 am

saltydog wrote:I have 115 gal DAS tank. I did have VHO's but when it was time to replace them I got a T5 fixture. It has 4 lights( 2 white, 2 blue ) and 48" long. Will this sustain most coral?

This also depends on the height of the canopy. I have seen very tall ones and some that are less than a foot in height. If it is a tall canopy you may attempt to lower the bulbs some. I would think you could sustain Derasa clams and most acros as long as the acros are closer to the top of the tank. You may be able to keep some higher light corals but growth will be slow.

carlab wrote:Does the fixture have individual reflectors for each bulb? This is necessary to be successful with SPS and clams.

Just about every T5 fixture comes with skinny reflectors for the bulbs.

carlab · Post by **carlab** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:23 am

I have a Nova Extreme T5 fixture that I had bought to go over a 45G. It only has one large reflector. I have since replaced it with an Aquatinic T5 fixture that has an individual reflector for each bulb. Made quite a diff in amount of light! I have a large green bubble tip anemone that colored up significantly for the better shortly after I changed fixtures. I don't have any SPS in this tank though. All softies.
Carla

Lighting

Lighting

Re: Lighting