Lighting Help for softies

[WIlliam_24]

Hello everyone!! this is my first post here. I have a 75 gallon reef tank that has been running for 3 months. There are no fish in this tank yet but there are 10 hermits, 10 nassarius snail, two mushroom frags, GSP, and two zooanthid frags. The lighting on my tank is a 48 inch Coral-Life HO T5 (bulbs are 54watts each) with one white 10,000k and one actinic 10,000k. All the frags are about halfway up in the 21 inch deep tank and are doing good, but with only a tiny amount of growth. WIll my cuurent lighting fixture work for a soft coral only tank? Or should i buy another coral life 48inch unit and run 4 t5 bulbs at once? if i run two coral life units at once should i have more then 2 actinic bulbs? would 3 10,oook actinic and one white 10,oook do it? Thank you for your help!!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Your current lighting setup should be fine. soft corals need very little light. How far off the waters surface do you have the light? If you're not getting alot of growth it may be a water quality issue.

 

[WIlliam_24]

Hey thanks for the reply. the lights are 4 inches above the water on mounts. all the frags are mounted at about the same hight 10-15 inches off the sandbed on the rocks. The tank is 21 inch tall

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hey thanks for the reply. the lights are 4 inches above the water on mounts. all the frags are mounted at about the same hight 10-15 inches off the sandbed on the rocks. The tank is 21 inch tall

That should be more then enough power for soft corals then When was the last time the bulbs were changed out? The bulbs need to be changed out every year to year and a half depended on useage

 

[WIlliam_24]

As far as water parameres everythings been good, i do a 20 gallon change once every two weeks. And the lights are 3 months old. Would my current lighting support a anemone (not sure what kind yet, maybe a Condy, or LTA) by the time my tank is a Year old?

 

[Crabs McJones]

As far as water parameres everythings been good, i do a 20 gallon change once every two weeks. And the lights are 3 months old. Would my current lighting support a anemone (not sure what kind yet, maybe a Condy, or LTA) by the time my tank is a Year old?

It would greatly depend on your par numbers. T5's should be able to sustain an anemone. #reefsquad anyone know if this light can handle an anemone (good on you for waiting ti'll a year to add an anemone by the way )

 

[WIlliam_24]

I wish par meters were cheap, but i guess ill see if a LFS can rent me one. On my first Saltwater tank i tried to keep a condy under a flood light in a 10 gallon, lets just say it didnt work out well LOL. But thankyou for your help!

 

[Crabs McJones]

I wish par meters were cheap, but i guess ill see if a LFS can rent me one. On my first Saltwater tank i tried to keep a condy under a flood light in a 10 gallon, lets just say it didnt work out well LOL. But thankyou for your help!

No problem worse case scenario you could get a black box led light, and that will sustain pretty much anything you put under it. And they're not to badly priced.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I wish par meters were cheap, but i guess ill see if a LFS can rent me one. On my first Saltwater tank i tried to keep a condy under a flood light in a 10 gallon, lets just say it didnt work out well LOL. But thankyou for your help!

I don't know the details, but I believe @saltyfilmfolks has a way to use a lux meter to somehow get to PAR.....for around $15. Hopefully he'll comment....I'd like to know as well!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think you have plenty of light for just about anything.

I’m not super familiar with the par nor spectrum from those bulbs and efficiency from that fixture. But , on average , a t5 is about 160 par per bulb 12in from the light.
So being that close to the tank I’d def say you’re ok there.

Time the Lights are on (photo period ) will matter too. You’d likely be best at 8 hours or even a bit more.

Personally , on that tank you could consider an led strip , it may depending on the brand not add a lot of power and par , but it’ll give you nice pop and and extend the viewing period.
I had an older bob lensed current orbit with my t5 and it was pretty sweet. The lensed version will add more power , in fact , you need to be carful there. An SBreeflight or Reefbright strip will add a LOT of power especially at theat distance.

I’d def consider ati or Geismann when it comes time to swap bulbs.
The documentation , reviews and commonality of them makes it easier to caluculte par.

In general , you can use an inexpensive lux meter to measure the intensity and then decide that number (for t5 it’s 50) to get the par. I’d also devide by 60 and it’s likely the par is in that range. (If one suspects the tubes are lame,poor spectrum , devide by 70).
(Brightness (intensity ) does not always equate to par (good spectrum)

I’d measure the intensity at the top of the tank , devide by 50, and also 60 as above.
On a med and lower Light t5 tank at your depth , I’d want the par in the 300- 400 range. Mixed reef , 400 600.
Just a starting point yes, and fixtures are all a bit different in output and penetration , but it’s a pretty good target estimate.

 

[WIlliam_24]

That is some great information it has helped me a lot. Thank you @redfishbluefish @saltyfilmfolks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You are welcome!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Good stuff @saltyfilmfolks . Just to finish this up, no high priced lux meter is really needed? Something like THIS for fifteen and a half bucks should do the trick? And what would the divisor be for LED's?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Good stuff @saltyfilmfolks . Just to finish this up, no high priced lux meter is really needed? Something like THIS for fifteen and a half bucks should do the trick? And what would the divisor be for LED's?

Yep, really ya just need one the does 50,000 lux.
I prefer one that does 200,000 you you can kinda of calibrate it (go out side in the sun) lol.

So far for most all led lights I’ve looked at , the estimate is 60. So 6000 lux = about 100 par.
For t5 devide by 50.

There’s a bit of diffentce in spectrum and setting naturally , so I run Led the numbers at 65 and 70 as well. More blue , higher number (narrow nm in blue but most of the pur).

Milwaukee makes one of the few submersibles I’ve seen. About $75