what would be the minimum wattage to use for a 55 gallon reef tank using T5's if I may want to keep sps corals down the road
is this even possible??
Thanks
is this even possible??
Thanks
t5's for sps corals
- Thread starter snookhooker74
- Start date
Yes, it's possible. There are quite a few tanks out there using T5 HO lighting to keep SPS corals and even clams. I have a friend that changed over to them and is keep SPSs, but he's only done so recently so I can't comment on any long term success in his case. But, there's been a Tank of the Month on ReefCentral that ran T5s with SPS corals and it was a pretty amazing looking tank.
I'm not an expert on pairing lighting to tank sizes, but if I had to guess I'd say a 4x54w T5 HO set-up would work for a 55g, especially if you wanted to overdrive 2 daylight bulbs with an IceCap ballast.
I'm not an expert on pairing lighting to tank sizes, but if I had to guess I'd say a 4x54w T5 HO set-up would work for a 55g, especially if you wanted to overdrive 2 daylight bulbs with an IceCap ballast.
it depends who you ask. those who have t5s say yes, those who have MH say no, those who have t5 and mh will say yes but they dont have comparable color 
lol
it is possible, but you wont have the color that you will with MH. i personaly would recomend 6 t5s, 8 would be even better. but as suggested above, you could probably get by with 4 if you have them on overdrive with an icecap, jsut remember to replace your bulbs more often. also, im not sure if i would try the higher lighting sps like table acros. at least i owuldnt expect all too much.
keep in mind, that the fixture you buy has jsut about everything to do with it. You are going to do a heck of a lot better with a tek fixture than with the nova extreme, and even better than the tek is the ice cap.
lolit is possible, but you wont have the color that you will with MH. i personaly would recomend 6 t5s, 8 would be even better. but as suggested above, you could probably get by with 4 if you have them on overdrive with an icecap, jsut remember to replace your bulbs more often. also, im not sure if i would try the higher lighting sps like table acros. at least i owuldnt expect all too much.
keep in mind, that the fixture you buy has jsut about everything to do with it. You are going to do a heck of a lot better with a tek fixture than with the nova extreme, and even better than the tek is the ice cap.