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Old 12-01-2009, 04:31 AM   #10 (permalink)
trouble93
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Default Re: reef lighting help!

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Originally Posted by eagleANTH View Post
its a standard 55 and its currently my display tank... so my two choices right now are the 2x t5 1x 250w mh or the 4x 96w cf lighting... if i can find a better kit for under $300 id gladly take another route. because right now its running on 2x t5s and i cant keep anything but zoas lps and softies with good coloring. I dont wanna add any sps until i have adequate lighting. and some unidentified sps seem to be sprouting on my live rock and i would like to feed them some more light so that i can identify them and share beautiful pictures of them if at all possible.
Like I stated earlier it's going to be hard to have even lighting over the whole tank with one MH. You would have to put it on one side of the cross bar or the other. You couldn't have it in the middle of the tank. The cross bar would block light and it would shade anything under it. You can do 4xt5 54watt that's 2 retro or you can find one with all 4 in one kit with 17 or 18k bulbs for some added blue. That will be 216watts that's like 4watts per gal. and that will be enough to grow almost any coral you want and it won't cost you a arm and a leg on a tank that will be a frag tank down the road. And as far as that coral on your rock you might want to get a pic of it now. I could be wrong, but not to many SPS'(small polyp stony) just pop up in a new tank. And if it's on a rock you cycled your tank with, a SPS wouldn't have made it through the Ammonia and nitrites spike.
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