Ditch the T5s unit and add some MH?

[chris88]

I would go mh at that depth or add two more t5's

[the marine apprentice]

hey martin. id stick with the t5 set up or maybe upgrade to a six bulb. im running t5s on my nano and will never go back to mh on it. i also have a 250 watt mh setup on the hex tank which is 24 deep and it works well also. but i just hate the heat that it puts off. get a good selection of bulbs in there and i am sure your sps will be growing soon enough. mine dont grow as fast as id like them to but i am happy with the way they look and the way they are growing.

[Slick Fork]

Right, don't know why 33 was stuck in my head I'd second the call for another 2 bulbs in T5.

I had a full T5 setup on my 110 (8 bulb) and ended up swapping out 4 of the bulbs for 2 175 watt MH's. For me, I got decent results with both. I just preferred MH for the shimmer. Plus my tank was in the basement so I had no worries about heat.

Not sure what to tell you about why your corals aren't growing. Your light setup seems ok. Individual reflectors, close to the water... that all seems fine. Two bulbs will give you extra spread from front to back but won't necessarily add more light to corals in the middle for example. If the lamp is functioning correctly then I would guess the problem lies elsewhere.

[Red Coral Aquariums]

Before you change to MH consider some decent T5 bulbs. KZ or ATI or Geisemann. Wave points are a lower end bulb and you and your corals would see a difference.
Kevin

[viperfish]

Also keep in mind that on a four bulb fixture with two actinics, you only have two bulbs doing the work. The actinics do nothing for coral growth. Like Kevin said, go with the higher quality bulbs. You could also use a higher spectrum bulb instead of actinics for the blue look, that way you make use of all four bulbs and more light for the corals.

[StirCrazy]

yes, by all means, you need MH, T5s are for kids silly rabbit





now in all honesty while I like MH, and as was mentions LEDs, I can't say run out and change tomorrow, nor can I say give it more time.

what are you water peramiters? Ca, Alk, Mg, Ph, Temp. how much water flow do you have. befor spending a tone of money for MH I would make sure that you corect any other issues first.

Steve

[Canadian]

If I was in your boat I'd wait for a good mass-produced LED fixture to be released as previously mentioned.

I don't think your issues are inherently a T5 problem. It's an issue of a suboptimal T5 fixture with suboptimal bulbs and suboptimal number of bulbs problem. You just don't have a very good T5 setup all around.

With that in mind, I would certainly suggest a change given your aquarium dimensions and desire to keep SPS. I would just be inclined to make the change to LEDs as opposed to MH.

[bauder1986]

hey martin, maybe switch out the actinics for a giesman aquablue+ for a higher PAR rating, and maybe retrofit 2 more t5's into the whole deal with either 14000K's or a aquablue+ and a 14000K or maybe a fiji and a 14000k but careful with those fiji's, if your phosphates are there and your healthy bacteria culture is abit premature you may get red slime algea due to the red spectrum coverage of the fiji's

[martinmcnally]

Thanks for all the advice guys. As for parameters I posted those a further back in the post. Nitrates are my only problem I think currently at 5. Temp is around 26/27 oC and Salinity 1.0025

I have been battling red slime agile now too for way to long and its starting to **** me right off.

When I got these new set of bulbs I noticed the tank was a little duller, despite being told this would be better than my last setup :/

Anyways I guess based on all this I should get another 2 bulbs plumbed in somehow add 2 more hight output bulbs and consider changing out the new ones for something better if the two extra don't make a significant difference.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by martinmcnally

36L x 24H x 18W

I have a suntek tight with 4 T5s in there, bulbs are just a month old or so.

Ph: 0.1
CA: 450
dKH: 8
Nitrate: 5

Looks like I could use some work on the Nitrate.

sorry missed that, I would say with a Ph of 0.1 you are lucky to have anything left in there at all, should desolve the flesh and the rock. unless you are talking about phos, then .1 is a little high and will fuel algae, for normal test kits you should read 0.0 and there will still be some.

you are pushing the lights for the depth of the tank so ya if you got the money MH would probably give you a good boost in light. do you have any corals higher up in the tank? never mind. so ya waiting for a LED fixture that is worth it is probably at least a year off and its going to be expensive, so if you are happy going with MH then I say go for it and use your T5 for actinics if you can fit them both on the tank.

Steve