Is t5 lights good enough for a reef??

[Larsen]

Hello, just bought a 150 Marine Land cube and looking for a light system. I was going to go with led but now I am thinking about going with 8 bulb T5 lighting. Is this going to be good enough for A mix reef tank sps Lps exc...???

 

[jerl77]

you will have no problem growing anything under t5s

 

[m and m]

Yes it is i own the one step down 93g cube 30x30 i think yours is 36x36 and i use a ten bulb t5 set up and most would say its over lit. IMO t5's are best due to the color combo in blbs you can get, thousands of reefers have t5's over mixed reef right now.

 

[aalvarado87]

I have seen t5's do the trick pretty well. The only thing you have to make sure is that your t5's have individual reflectors. this is so they push the most par back into the tank. I do agree with the fact that you can't get the best color out of t5's because you can add tons of different bulbs and have some really nice colors. My only suggestion is to put as many bulbs as you can possibly fit and afford because the more the better.

 

[MarvinsReef]

yes. should be enough. I have a 6 bulb set up in my 110g.

 

[dougers31]

On a cube you could possibly go with a 250/400w MH with a good reflector and some (2-4 bulb) t5's for coverage and added color.

 

[m and m]

This all depends on your price you can handle two, and what you want. A nice ATI powermodal would work wonders even a ATI sunpower. The reason i keep saying ATi is because they are a top brand with Amazing Reflectors and the Sunpower is just a cheaper PM

 

[aalvarado87]

On a cube you could possibly go with a 250/400w MH with a good reflector and some (2-4 bulb) t5's for coverage and added color.

Yeah but then if you go with mh you are going to be adding a lot of heat to the tank. I believe that mh will soon be a thing of the past with all the new technology hitting the market. especially with the prices going down. I loved my mh no lie but after getting my leds i will never go back to halides. My tank doesn't get hot i dont have fans running all year and my electricity bill dropped when i got rid of them

 

[skinz78]

I use a DIY 6 bulb setup over my 120g and I have everything from clams to SPS and LPS in there doing quite well. You just need to have good reflectors and you will be fine.

 

[BlazinNano]

I run T5s. Best thing I ever did in this hobby. Got away from MH. I have clams, anomones, everything. Color is awesome!

 

[florida reef]

+1111. I run t-5 as as well. 6x54w over my standard 90g and I have no problems with anything lacking light. ALso, the color combo is so easy to change!

 

[drainbamage]

4 bulb overdriven T5 fixture on this reef %(gratuitous percent sign)

no supplimental lighting on this tank, or my other two tanks, all of which have T5s. Only thing is overdriven T5's with individual reflectors can be too bright in the smaller bulbs (the shorter ones, longer bulbs like 48" don't seem to have as much an issue, figure the overdriven ballasts are more so impacted when used with the shorter bulbs, less gas + same electricity = more light), so on my chalice/LPS tank I use a more basic fixture, current's Nova Extreme Pro- bubls it comes with are complete crud, but the fixture itself is decent, and won't bleach out LPS's like the overdrivens can if too close to the light.