Please help!

[krystlemike]

Thank so much for everyone helping out!

 

[kenzo]

Hey!

I think have the same tank ! It's marineland right?

I have aquatic life 4 bulb T5 HO light fixture and it's 30 inch. It's about 96 watts. I also have a 24"-36" current usa marine led fixure and together it's quite enough light for my tank. I have soft corals, but no anemones though.I have mushrooms and xenia! I also keep a maxima clam on the top and I have monitpora cap. coral and hyacinth birds nest coral and what I have is enough like for them. May be you should think about adding an another fixture. May be they need more light!

 

[krystlemike]

Indeed it's the Marineland combo I got from pets mart a while ago. It's a 56 gallon tank, kinda shaped as a cube. So if I buy the same type I have and use both same time it will make my lighting problem better? I was looking at the MH but their running about 400 bucks give or take when I can double up what I'm using for only 120 bucks.

 

[kenzo]

Yeah me too! I bought it from petsmart too! :)

No you don't have to buy the same type. Metal halide is good but I heard lot of things about them and they cost a lot too! If you could add a another T5 ho fixture or a Led fixture that would be plenty of light I think

 

[krystlemike]

When u say LED, any specifications? I see tons of LED but how do I know which one is the right one? Which one has the right power and etc?

 

[kenzo]

oh forgot to say this the light fixtures cause more than what I paid for my tank. And I bought my Aquatic life fixture from petsolutions. The regular price is like $300 something but it was on sale for $ 199 so I bought it. It's a pretty good fixture. The fixture is 30" but it uses 24" bulbs. I change the bulbs though, I bought different bulbs from Drs.Foster & smith! Because they are 24" bulbs you have plenty of choices. Some 30" fixtures use 30" T5 ho bulbs and it's pretty hard to find good 30" t5 ho bulbs! so wait for a sale!

 

[kenzo]

The good Led fixtures are pretty expensive! you have to see how many watts they are and their color spectrum. But people like them because you don't have to change bulbs like in T5 fixture every 12-9 months ,if you want to spend that much that would be fine.

Maxspect R420R (RAZOR) LED Lighting System: LED Aquarium Light Fixtures

or you could go with a another 4 bulb t5 ho fixture .2 bulb ones are not enough! If you need about 4 watts per gallon you need 224 watts in total!

 

[rworegon]

OK I'll chime in here. By the look of the one bubble tip I would say it's definitely looking for more light. Anemone's are strange creatures. They will tend to wander about the tank till they find their happy place. I have right around 10 in my 39 cube now. Started with one and it just kept splitting.

I would suggest that you start looking around for some kind of used MH T-5 combo unit that you could put over that tank. This gives you a ton of options for color spectrum and intensity. I have a single 150watt MH with two 24" T-5's over my nem tank. When the halide switches off the nems do tend to shrivel down for the night but inflate again in the morning.

Here is a shot that is a couple of months old:
nems1 by rworegon, on Flickr

 

[prsnlty]

I agree with Todd (TJs Reef). I would either get the LED Stunner strip or I would add 2 more T5s and also I would change out those bulbs for better ones like ATI or Geismann. Even just the bulb change out might make the difference. Most T5s are good for up to 6 months. Yours are 4 mo old. Plus they aren't as good a bulb as the ones I mentioned. I would get 1 ATI Blue+ and 1 ATI Coral+. See if that helps since you have mostly softies and LPS. If it's still isn't enough add another fixture and change those bulbs out also.

 

[krystlemike]

This one?

 

[krystlemike]

I'm using the 30"

 

[Steven@]

Invest in 1 Hydra 26, in the long run you will save $ and you get control of the light spectrum.

 

[prsnlty]

Measure your bulbs. If it's a 30" unit it should be 24" bulbs. And yes those are the correct bulbs :)

 

[krystlemike]

Thank you!!!

 

[prsnlty]

Wait! Don't order yet

 

[prsnlty]

That bulb length is an odd length. Checking to see if ATI makes them

 

[prsnlty]

Did you measure the bulb?

 

[prsnlty]

I don't think your unit will hold ATIs since they don't make a 30" bulb.

 

[prsnlty]

Pm'd you

 

[krystlemike]

This is what I found for led stunner strip.