Are you switching to T5

[Doug]

I put yes, as I already run them. I only have 4 HO T-5,s over my 90 and my sps has nice colours and decent growth, although not fast.

[Buddyboy]

Doug, do you find that a 4 bulb T5 fixture is enough over your 90 G tank? If you could do it again, would you get a 6 bulb T5 fixture instead? What fixture (retrofit) do you have?

Also, contrary to what some people believe, is it possible to have good SPS growth and color under T5 lighting?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Buddyboy

Doug, do you find that a 4 bulb T5 fixture is enough over your 90 G tank? If you could do it again, would you get a 6 bulb T5 fixture instead? What fixture (retrofit) do you have?

Also, contrary to what some people believe, is it possible to have good SPS growth and color under T5 lighting?

I have the duel 4ft. SWC units. {SaltWater Connection, Winnipeg}. Yes, I think 6 would be better and I will likely add another fixture at some point. But also may not if everything is doing well. It would just increase growth rates, I assume. It would be neat to say, "look at this sps growth & colour with my 4 bulbs." I wont do so at the cost of any of the corals though. Because of my in tank skimmer, I cant now , unless it was a 3ft. fixture.

I am impressed with the way the corals are encrusting. Seems more so that than vertical growth. Coralline also seems to love the light. Of course, more time will tell how decent they really will be, including longevity of the bulbs. I run open top and keep them fan cooled. I believe there is a pic of them in last months FOTM, where the staff tanks were featured.

As a futher note, I like them better on this size tank then when I had halides. However if I moved and had a larger tank again, I would run halides and not the multiple banks of T-5,s some use.

[Jason McK]

I ran 4 bulb T5 on my frag tank and it quickly browned out all my SPS frags. I'm back to MH

[Buddyboy]

Looks like a mixed bag with T5's.

Maybe 6 bulbs would of been better for your setup Jason? Do you think it was the quantity of T5 light or the quality?

Has anyone else experienced brownouts with their SPS when switching to T5s? If I make the plunge I would like to know I could try SPS in the future.

How is the dimmable T5 lighting Patrick????? It must be awesome!!! Do you find 4 x 54W is enough for your tank? What kind of coral are you keeping?

[fkshiu]

I wanted to have my cake and eat it to so I'm running T5/MH/VHO all at the same time!

[Joe Reefer]

I get the feeling that T5 lights are the new power compacts, don't get me wrong I supplement with T5 but as far as going all T5, my opinion is changing.

[littlesilvermax]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

I wanted to have my cake and eat it to so I'm running T5/MH/VHO all at the same time!

Me too!

[Patrick1]

I find my 72 not too deep so there is excellent light penetration right to the bottom. Infact I had to turn them down. I am running them right now at 70% or less. I build my own canopy so all the light is focused into the tank where it belongs. I have been watching T5 for a while now on some display tanks at Golds and their SPS is excellent. I went in pointed at one of the tanks and said I want that color. Then made a few changes I like the purple in the evening, just like a real sunset. I am going to upgrade to independant ballasts after the newyear.. As for the coral I am keeping right now I have just shut down my old tank and have only been running the new system for 9 weeks now and I leave on holidays in a month so my coral stock will be minimal until after the newyear. I will keep you posted on my results in a few months.

Originally Posted by Buddyboy

Looks like a mixed bag with T5's.

Maybe 6 bulbs would of been better for your setup Jason? Do you think it was the quantity of T5 light or the quality?

Has anyone else experienced brownouts with their SPS when switching to T5s? If I make the plunge I would like to know I could try SPS in the future.

How is the dimmable T5 lighting Patrick????? It must be awesome!!! Do you find 4 x 54W is enough for your tank? What kind of coral are you keeping?

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Buddyboy

Looks like a mixed bag with T5's.


Has anyone else experienced brownouts with their SPS when switching to T5s? If I make the plunge I would like to know I could try SPS in the future.

We had 3 sps frags under our t5 lights in our 120g and they all started to die off. We moved them to our 30g that has MH and they all made an amazing come back plus have grown like crazy.