Help with proper light for new tank

[redkmd]

Hi we are new to phoenix and hope to attend a meeting. We have a 80 gallon tank 22 inch deep. Can we get by with pc lights on the tank if we only go wtih soft corrals and shrooms etc and will coaline alge grow good under them , I ask due to the differenct in the cost of halides so we can get our tank running sooner then down the road maybe add halides or maybe not. Any help would be appreciated the tank is 48 in by 18 top open also.
thanks
Ron and Kathy

[sir_dudeguy]

You may also wanna look into a t5 setup...i think they're a bit cheaper than MH and in any case, they are cooler in temp.

But for just softies, yes pc's will be fine, but i'd only keep the shrooms/rics in the bottom, and keep everything else up a little higher...maybe around halfway give or take a few depending on how well they're growing for you.

I'd get like a 4x96 at the very least.

[sundevil_brian]

i would say go for t5s over pcs. if you just want to keep softies and mushrooms either go with two bulbs with reflectors or you can go with 3 or 4 with out the reflectors which will prob end up being about the same price as a couple pcs.

also if you go with the t5's and decided you wana keep some sps in the future you just need to add more bulbs or get reflectors on the bulbs. and t5's i think last longer than pcs, and theres more of a selection of t5 bulbs.

pcs i think are kinda on there way out because t5's do everything pcs do only better.

[redkmd]

on my tank top opening of 48" by 18 in how many can i get up there in a fixture I would like to be able to maybe have some hard corals if possible but I am still somewhat new and have had luck in st louis but by chance not experience or help from people like you.
thanks

[sir_dudeguy]

if you do hard corals you will need the t5's or mh. With t5's you could prolly fit like 6 or so bulbs. They're very thin and each one (with reflector) only takes up like an inch or an inch and a half or so...not big. Pc's on the other hand take up about 2 times that (at least the square pin ones...my straight pin ones are a bit thinner).

[redkmd]

Hi I have been looking at 48 inch T5 light fixtures since you sent the last reply and some have 6 or even 8 with white moon glo in them. I am not up to date and was not familiar with these and they look really sharp and less electric and the fixture can fit under my oak hood another nice thing. Thanks for steering me that way as now I am sure that is the way I will go when I can afford the fixture I will get the 6 or 8 bulb syste.
thanks
Ron

[sir_dudeguy]

You mean its got the moon lights in there too? Those are just small LED lights (if thats what you're talking about even) that are there to simulate the moon during the night. Some swear by em' and other say they're completely unnessesary. I like the blue ones cuz they look cool and could care less to wether theyr'e needed or not lol. If there's a chance they are needed, then i already got them, if they're not, then the tank looks cool at night anyways

But t5's have lots of different color bulbs so you can mix and match them however you wanna do it. I'm not a t5 person so i dont know which particular bulbs would be good matches...but lots of people on here have em' and could help you out w/which colors to chose.

[redkmd]

here are links to the ones i was looking at:

http://www.saltycritter.com/lighting...ht-t5-only.htm

http://www.saltycritter.com/lighting...extreme-t5.htm

now that you set me up looking at them that is the way I am going to go definitly less heat than halides and brightness to and I agree with you I like the blue look moon light also.
thanks

[sir_dudeguy]

those might be ok...not sure. They dont look like thy've got individual reflectors which is usually what makes t5's good but idk

[Jaqux]

Beware asking lighting questions. 8)

If you've got a couple of days to kill, you can read the T5 Q&A thread at http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=939236 . There's a ton of information there. Your best option may be skim it and start asking questions. The Grim Reefer is amazingly patient and helpful with people asking T5 questions.

The Nova Extreme does not have individual reflectors, and I'm pretty sure it was said on the Q&A thread that the aqua-medic also does not. So they waste alot of light. Some better options (that also don't look to be much if any more expensive) are the aquactinics lights at http://www.aquactinics.com/Store/T5_...ng_Systems.htm or the Tek lights at reefgeek at http://reefgeek.com/products/categor...tek_light.html .

Another thing to be careful with is not getting such bright lights and bulbs that you nuke your corals. Most of the guys on the T5 Q&A thread are growing light hungry SPS. Since you're not, you may want to ratchet back some of their examples. I don't have any SPS right now in my primary tank so I've got 2 T5 54W bulbs with individual Tek reflectors on my 55. Since I installed them in place of some PC lights, my zoas, torches, and frogspawn have been growing like mad. I was planning on bumping my bulb count to 4, but things are so happy with two right now I'm taking a wait and see approach while I watch how they grow.

I strongly recommend reading and asking questions on the T5 Q&A thread. There's alot of knowledge and experience there that's willing to help.

David "Jaqux"