sps lighting

[toytech]

Ive spent the last few days finally setting up my 4x2x2 120 gallon and today im filling it up , ive got all my equipment but lights . Ive seen a few 6 bulb ati t5s for sale and I wonder if a 6 bulb fixture is enough for a full blown sps reef or if its just not going to be enough ? So what are folks using on there sps reefs?

[Aquattro]

I use an 8 light fixture, and not sure I'd try a 6. But I like a lot of light. Probably depends more on the layout and where the corals are located though. I'm sure there are SPS tanks with 6 bulb fixtures.
That being said, I wish these came in 10 bulb

[reefmandan]

I think that if the SPS corals were very high up in the tank, 6 bulbs would be okay. I'd recommend 8 though.

[mrhasan]

6 bulb with good reflector is perfectly fine to grow anything in an SPS tank. But height and width should be considered. I have acros from middle to top (top being 12"+ distance between the light and the location of the coral) and montis from low to top and things color up and grow just fine. But I believe the water parameter and the aquascaping also plays their fair share of role. Ofcourse in case of T5s, the more the better. But 6 bulb is perfectly fine as long as your width and height is within 20". But since yours is 24", I would say go for 8 bulbs ATI.

[trilinearmipmap]

Happy with my 8 bulb ATI powermodule.

[Slyguy00]

Or get yourself some leds and save your self the few hundred dollars every 6 months. I had leds before and am currently running T5 now, and man do I miss my leds every day. Not a big fan of the T5. Iv noticed colours don't pop like they used to. If you do go T5 my 6 bulb fixture grows all my sps just fine so you would be fine with 6. Just not as visually appealing. Just my opinion.

[gregzz4]

With your tank being 2' deep I'd think you'll need an 8 bulb fixture, plus the width of 2' will be hard to cover with a 6 bulb unit
I use an 8 bulb unit on a tank 19 tall and 18 deep

I love my 8 bulb T5 and wouldn't trade it for anything else currently available, unless I were to fall into possesion of some dimmable ballasts

I only change my bulbs every 12 months, not 6, or 9, and I spread out the changes throughout the year to not only offset the costs but to not shock the tank

[toytech]

Well thanks for all the input looks like an 8 bulb fixture is going to be in my future , I really want this to be a tank that thrives and looks good and skimping on the lights isn't going to get me anywhere .So anyone have an extra 8 bulb ati fixture for sale?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by toytech

So anyone have an extra 8 bulb ati fixture for sale?

Brand new, used price. He might ship

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classifi...-bulb_21555983

[toytech]

Thanks for the link that's perfect.