T5 Lighting

[lorenz0]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

in which case both sugestions are valid and the OP should be allowed to make and informed desision with out the T5 holy army comming out and slamming anyone who recomends MH.. right?

Steve

Hey i like both lights myself but personally alot of people give out very inaccuate info in t5's. I did a par test 2 years ago comparing a 6 bulb tek system to 250watt MH's and the readings were the same, give or take 20 par from each in different area's on each fixture.

Both are great fixtures and have pro's and con's to each. i think there is a t5vs MH thread every month but in this case the OP strictly asked about T5's. And a 8 bulb TEK will get the job done for sure. If i were to buy another fixture i would jump straight at a sunpower over any sunlight supply product but the new TEk's are interesting.

[trilinearmipmap]

Well I have run an 8-bulb Tek light on a 48" x 24" x 24" 120 gallon mixed reef for around 5 or 6 years so you may find my experiences helpful as the tank you are planning sounds about the same as mine.

Softies: no problem. Mushrooms don't do well ? too much light or too low nutrients.
LPS: grow excellent
BTA's: grow excellent on the bottom of the tank, got one off Sam 5 years or so ago, now I have around 8 BTA's in 2 tanks, if anyone wants a BTA.
Clams: never tried them, if I had room for a clam I would get a Derasa or if it were a more light-demanding clam I would place it high up.
SPS: Montipora digitata grows like a weed on the bottom of the tank. Montipora confusa grows slowly on the bottom of the tank. Montipora capricornis at the middle of the tank took over 1/2 the tank until I hacked it back severely. One other SPS I tried didn't do well and eventually died, I think that was due to calcium or other issues probably not the lighting.
I have not tried any of the more difficult SPS mostly because I don't have the time to keep on top of frequent monitoring and testing of parameters etc. The tank is on autopilot and doing OK.

In summary if you want a mixed reef the Sunlight Supply 8-bulb T5 Tek-light is a good choice. If you were going to focus more on SPS I would look at a PowerModule.