SPS and T5HO VS MH

[Koresample]

I have an Aquatic Life 24" T5HO set up for my tank (2X 700+ NM + actinics moon glo LED's etc) that have been making my softies and LPS grow like crazy over the last 5 months. Is there any reason i cant try some SPS or am i just wasting my time until i go to MH's? My hammer coral has grown 3 new heads and has great colour and my moon coral has kept its brilliant colours the entire time and has grown about 20+ new polyps. I had a bit of an algae outbreak after going on vacation after my son accidently unplugged my skimmer, but it is almost under control. I know i need near perfect water conditions for them (currently sg 1025, Nitrates and nitries = 0, PH 8.2, Ca 450, MG 1400 and 10 dKH0), which i plan to wait for, but what about the lighting? I know this generally sparks a huge debate, so i would like to hear feedback from those that use T5HO successfully and from those that swithced to MH please.
thanks!

[hummer]

I'm using 48" Tek Light High Output T5's right now. I have 1 hammer, 2 bubble corals, some mushrooms, couple of zoas and mostly SPS frags and they have all grown nicely. I've never had MH but I'm thinking you would get much better colour and growth out of the SPS.

[Marlin65]

24" is a bit small I tried that on my tank. (4 bulb fixture) They lived and thrived but the color just was not the same as under my MH. I think if you had bigger bulbs with more length you would be OK. I know there is lots of tanks out there with 36" and 48" that look great. I just found my MH did a much better job than my 4-24" T5

[fencer]

I was told on a tank with 18in depth you need 6 -8 T5 HO's.

[fkshiu]

I'd get at least 6 T5HOs for an 18" deep tank if you want SPS.

The difficulty with general statements such as "can you do SPS with T5HO" is that there's a lot of variability with T5HOs. Maximizing PAR output would include:
- using individual gull-wing reflectors like Icecap SLRs
- overdriving them with, for example, Icecap 660 ballasts
- actively cooling them with fans

You won't get the same type of output with a standard Tek or Nova Extreme unit.

There's also bulb selection. With MH you've only got one bulb and one PAR reading coming out of that bulb. With a T5 unit you've got a myriad of options for bulb combos which can cause a lot of variability in PAR output.

As proven by numerous T5-lit tanks out there the short answer is "Yes" to the question, but don't expect your Oregon Tort to stay deep purple if all you've got is a two bulb Hagen Glo unit.

[Stones]

With your 4 bulb T5HO fixture, you shouldn't have any problems keeping SPS corals in the top 1/3 of your aquarium. Any lower than that, you are going to need to get a 6 bulb fixture to help increase PAR levels.

I have a SPS only 90 gallon tank and decided to switch from metal halides to T5's last Christmas. After 7 months of running the T5's, I couldn't be happier. I replaced a 2 x 250 watt HQI metal halide setup (which I had used for the past 4 years) with a 8 x 54 watt T5 fixture that does not overdrive the bulbs. Colours are improving in my acros weekly and I don't have problems growing acros on the sandbed at a depth of 24".

Like the others have said though, good individual reflectors and active cooling really help boost the PAR output of T5 fixtures so that you can keep corals you would normally need metal halide for.

[RuGlu6]

I have 6 bulb TEK T5, tank is 24" tall, and sps grows ok wth nice color at 20 inch deep

[Myka]

The way I see it is that SPS frags are cheap, why not give it a try. If all else fails you can give them away.

[subman]

Originally Posted by Myka

The way I see it is that SPS frags are cheap, why not give it a try. If all else fails you can give them away.

+1 and there are many different types of sps some will do better than others just like lps or softies. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to lights just give it a shot.

[Canuckgod420]

I just recently swaped out my 2x250W MH system for an 8 bulb 4' T5 fixture, and I think its great(i'm only using 7 bulbs though....damn bowfront...lol).
When I stopped using ZEO my ENTIRE system had a major brown out(almost all SPS and 1 large duncan colony), so I thought this would be a great time to re-do the whole setup. Out came the halides....in went the T5's, also removed 80 pounds of rock. built new rock towers put in brown frags from mother colonies, and 3 weeks later i'm starting to get color.
Weird thing is, corals that where once green are now starting to show signs of orange and yellow with green polyps....pretty cool actually.
So to make long story short, I like the T5's for SPS.