School me on T5 please

[GOSKN5]

I have never had anything but LEDS... mixed reefs and been pretty successful with them...

I just took this tank down and was running hydras... had a fee sps but mostly softies and LPS..

I am considering trying T5 simply for colors on the SPS... I would like to have some tall rock structures dominated at the top by acros etc.. I had no problem growing them with the hydras.. but the colors all seemed to fade..

Tank is going to be a 150xh 48x24x30.. so deep tank but will only have SPS in the upper half or so...

I am CLUELESS about T5 requirements, fixtures etc... how many bulbs do I need etc..

Any good fixture recommendations? Tank had a center brace, also I will have a canopy on it....

Help me out, thanks!

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Acameron2]

Man I recognize this tank from somewhere??? Do you live in NC?

 

[-Logzor]

A six or eight build fixture would be fine for that size aquarium. On my 48x30x24 I run five T5's and two Reefbrite XHO's. My fixture usually has seven bulbs but one of my ballasts blew out.

Check out ATI fixtures. Supplement with LEDs for best results.

 

[Pete polyp]

I would suggest an 8 bulb on a 24" wide tank. The main difference between fixtures would be reflectors. A good reflector can increase output of your bulbs by 300%. I use extremely cheap ebay fixtures on my tanks and have no complaints. I do have more than the recommended amount of bulbs on my tanks though. I have 6 bulbs on a 29 and 6 bulbs on my 40. As far as bulb choices, you just customize to whatever you want. But use a respectable brand like ati, giesemann etc. Personally I go with ati because of cost and am very happy with them.

 

[jgraz]

Def go with the 8 bulb. I have used a tek 8x48" on my 90 and now using the ATI 8x60" on my 180. Both were 24" deep and I had no issue growing sps with great color straight down to the bottom. With a 30" deep I suspect you will be fine.

 

[Akida17th]

I changed from a Radion pro g3 to an ATI 24w 8 bulb supplemented with a Reefbrite XHO blue and oh my do I love it. Get good growth but the color is beyond better than all lighting in my opinion.