Can I just use any fluorescent light for my corals?

[FUNGI]

Complete rubbish

Your math might be different then mine.....

 

[Uncle99]

I see that they're supplementing your leds. Is it enough alone or are the leds necessary?

The LEDs give “pop” to my corals, way better than T5, but not required.
You can light the entire tank with T5’s.
T5 is a more diffused light source which I use to better “blend” the more direct LED.

 

[Adamc13o3]

There are a lot of replies here. Everything works.

Metal Halides work
T5’s work
LED’s work

For metal halides keep in mind you need relflectors, ballasts and bulbs. There are single ended bulbs (mogul) and double ended bulbs (HQI). For the single ended bulb the most popular one is the radium 20k. For the double ended bulbs I’ve always like phoenix 14k. I am not sure they even still make the HQI bulbs. With metal halides you will have the easiest tried and true method. However, it does come with bulk, higher electric bills and the most frequent bulb changes. You also need to know which bulb / ballast combo you’re running. Do a google search for Sanjay’s articles on lighting. Metal halides also have the nicest shimmer. You won’t be able to run them all day though and they dint dim. So most of us had them in combination with (in order)

First VHO’s (nothing beats that combo for growth and look)

Then T5’s

Then LED strips


T5’s absolutely work. This will be your cheapest start up cost right now. You need to make sure to get bulbs for our hobby. ATI, Giesemann and or KZ. We also used to run one GE bulb if I remember correctly. They don’t put out as much heat as MH. With T5’s you won’t have any shimmer.

LED’s are the new latest and greatest. When they came out first they weren’t too good. However the technology has evolved so much and they’re great now. There are some cheaper fixtures that are fine and then there are ones that are garbage. A lot of the cheaper ones perform just as well as the expensive ones. The no are expensive ones just offer a lot more of extensive programming, automation and other features. LED’s shimmer varies a lot. I love MH shimmer and HATE LED shimmer. It makes me dizzy and doesn’t allow me to focus on the tank. I run an LED shimmer that has no shimmer at all (Neptune sky, sort of knows for no shimmer too). If I was buying a fixture in a budget I would decide which ones I wanted and then keep on the lookout for a used one. I think you will be happier long term.

Hope I helped,

Adam

 

[Reefing102]

There are a lot of replies here. Everything works.

Metal Halides work
T5’s work
LED’s work

For metal halides keep in mind you need relflectors, ballasts and bulbs. There are single ended bulbs (mogul) and double ended bulbs (HQI). For the single ended bulb the most popular one is the radium 20k. For the double ended bulbs I’ve always like phoenix 14k. I am not sure they even still make the HQI bulbs. With metal halides you will have the easiest tried and true method. However, it does come with bulk, higher electric bills and the most frequent bulb changes. You also need to know which bulb / ballast combo you’re running. Do a google search for Sanjay’s articles on lighting. Metal halides also have the nicest shimmer. You won’t be able to run them all day though and they dint dim. So most of us had them in combination with (in order)

First VHO’s (nothing beats that combo for growth and look)

Then T5’s

Then LED strips


T5’s absolutely work. This will be your cheapest start up cost right now. You need to make sure to get bulbs for our hobby. ATI, Giesemann and or KZ. We also used to run one GE bulb if I remember correctly. They don’t put out as much heat as MH. With T5’s you won’t have any shimmer.

LED’s are the new latest and greatest. When they came out first they weren’t too good. However the technology has evolved so much and they’re great now. There are some cheaper fixtures that are fine and then there are ones that are garbage. A lot of the cheaper ones perform just as well as the expensive ones. The no are expensive ones just offer a lot more of extensive programming, automation and other features. LED’s shimmer varies a lot. I love MH shimmer and HATE LED shimmer. It makes me dizzy and doesn’t allow me to focus on the tank. I run an LED shimmer that has no shimmer at all (Neptune sky, sort of knows for no shimmer too). If I was buying a fixture in a budget I would decide which ones I wanted and then keep on the lookout for a used one. I think you will be happier long term.

Hope I helped,

Adam

I couldn’t have said this better. I run halides with LED strips on my 65, T5 on my freshwater planted tank, and LED only on my wife’s 32 Biocube. All grow things quite well. The LED is the smatfarm LED fixture from Amazon. Does good but the spectrum and sunrise/sunset features are lacking for what they do in my opinion. But does grow anemones just fine. As for repair, for me it’s cheap enough I’ll just replace it if/when it breaks. Halides are tried and true and are growing my SPS just fine. Mogul base are easier to come by than HQI - generally you want a 6500k or higher spectrum (the lower being more yellow and higher blue/crisp white). The T5s are growing the plants quite well - bulbs about every 18 months