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DansMarineTank

DansMarineTank

This ship is England!
Dec 13, 2004
352
0
0
43
Ipswich (UK)
I aiming for softies (sarco leather) and star polyp's in my 40G

The plan is to chuck 3 T5 bulbs over the top of it 2 X 55 watt, 1 X 36 watt = 146 Watt total

the 55's are controlled together the 36 is independant

for bulbs i have a choice

Tri Plus bulb - 8300K
Normal - 14000K
Antic
Daylight Blue Plus - daylight and Antic combo running at 7000K

what would you put where and how would you time them,

Cheers Dan
 
Just curious, what kind of T5 units do you have?

Your 40 gallon is 36 inches wide isn't it? If your T5s are HO, then they should be 39 watts - less if not HO. And since wattages on all fluorescent bulbs are dependent on their length, you shouldn't be able to have a 2x55Watt unit that's 36 inches wide. 48" T5-HO bulbs are 54 watts.

In any event, I'd run 2 of the Daylights on the twin-bulb unit for most the day with the single actinic coming on/going off an hour or so before/after. The combination of actinic and daylight should give your a crisp white light.

14K + actinic would be very, very blue and will probably reduce PAR output (although I'm importing this bit from MHs, I'm pretty sure it holds true for T5s as well).
 
The lamps are T5 power compacts 22" in length which look like they are folded in half so the overall lenght would be close to 48" as you say.

Yeah the tank is 36" so no problem squeezing the lamps over it?

what are your oppionions of PC's?
 
Ah, I see. So the lamps aren't T5s per se but power compacts.

Power compacts are great for low light reefs and FOWLR/FO, but have been surpassed by HO-T5s (the straight tube kind) in terms of a viable alternative to MHs.
 
yeah the only straight t5 i could squeze over it were 21 watts and much more expensive than the T5 pc's. the whole setup i list above will cost $100, where as just 2 x 21 watt t5's cost me $160 heres a link i didn't buy form these guys but they have the most info on them

T5 PC's
 
This unit looks be a type of compact fluorescent (PL cluster or "quad tube" lamps). This means that the unit would be completely inadequate for either acropora or a tridacnid clam. Simply not enough light over a 40 gallon.

At the very minimum you'll need 4x39W HO-T5s with individual reflectors or 150W MHs for acros and clams.
 
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