Lighting question.

[[enjoyable_attempt]]

I throwing together another reef tank. I want mostly LSP/SPS. Its going to be a 10 gallon. I have 2 24" double T5 strips I want to use. One has two actinic bulbs the other has two 10,000k bulbs. They are 24watts each. This this will be enough?

*EDIT*

Oh, and what type of filtration would you guys recomend on such a small tank. HOB's are ok but I hate salt creep. My other reef tank is a biocube so the filters built in. If I do use a HOB I have a AC20 laying around...would it be enough tho? Maybe two AC20's?

Can the light be too bright for softies?

 

[[enjoyable_attempt]]

Bump. It really surprises me this hasnt gotten answered yet. We need more salt people.

 

[hurricane_redbone]

you might be able to keep some sps with it but the colors will not look good under only 10,000 k... if u really want to bring out sps colors and actually have it grow you will need metal halides with a color temp of atleast 14,000k but preferably 20,000k. acropora for instance will deffinitly not do well under 10,000k.

if u want to do metal halides cheap its pretty easy for something that small. just buy one of those parking lot lights, a aquatic metal halide bulb... hang it a few inches from ur water surface n point a fan at it...

 

[Myteemouse]

10,000 k T-5's will do just fine. Keep sps up high..
Softies will love it..
And your colors should be good if you run the ACT... bulbs with the 10k's..
I know lots of people haveing good luck with T-5 HO's..
As for the small tank..filtration.
A good HOB skimmer chould be good if you do water changes every week..
Might want to run some carbon if you mix softies with SPS
The chemical warfare will wreak havoc on your SPS polyp extension..

P.S. there is not alot of SW people on here.

 

[[enjoyable_attempt]]

10,000 k T-5's will do just fine. Keep sps up high..
Softies will love it..
And your colors should be good if you run the ACT... bulbs with the 10k's..
I know lots of people haveing good luck with T-5 HO's..
As for the small tank..filtration.
A good HOB skimmer chould be good if you do water changes every week..
Might want to run some carbon if you mix softies with SPS
The chemical warfare will wreak havoc on your SPS polyp extension..

P.S. there is not alot of SW people on here.

I plan on running carbon in there. What about LPS? They need less light then SPS I though. I like trumpets and candy canes. I also wanted a few brains like Wellsophyllia, Platygyra, or Favites.

 

[Myteemouse]

no problem with lps either

 

[overcooked]

I throwing together another reef tank. I want mostly LSP/SPS. Its going to be a 10 gallon. I have 2 24" double T5 strips I want to use. One has two actinic bulbs the other has two 10,000k bulbs. They are 24watts each. This this will be enough?

*EDIT*

Oh, and what type of filtration would you guys recomend on such a small tank. HOB's are ok but I hate salt creep. My other reef tank is a biocube so the filters built in. If I do use a HOB I have a AC20 laying around...would it be enough tho? Maybe two AC20's?

Can the light be too bright for softies?

What type of T5 lights are you running? Bulbs and reflectors make or break a T5 lighting system.

 

[hurricane_redbone]

no problem with lps either

is that true about the chemical warfare? cuz i dont run carbon in my tanks n i have not notice ant issues with polyp extention. maybe cuz i have a slightly oversized skimmer...

 

[mr.reef24]

I throwing together another reef tank. I want mostly LSP/SPS. Its going to be a 10 gallon. I have 2 24" double T5 strips I want to use. One has two actinic bulbs the other has two 10,000k bulbs. They are 24watts each. This this will be enough?

*EDIT*

Oh, and what type of filtration would you guys recomend on such a small tank. HOB's are ok but I hate salt creep. My other reef tank is a biocube so the filters built in. If I do use a HOB I have a AC20 laying around...would it be enough tho? Maybe two AC20's?

Can the light be too bright for softies?

T-5's are great for sps/lps you'll want at least 4-5 watt's a gallon, Octocoral's or in regular term's soft corals might need to be near the bottom as not all like the bright light but it also will depend on what soft coral your looking to get as well. An aquaclear 20 will be good but you might want a Hydor Nano for the extra flow which your lps/sps will appreciate. salt-creep will build but just clean it off once a month or as needed and you'll be set. Any other questions Private Message me. Since the tank is so little I would steer clear of soft coral's, and watch for your lps and sps as they will not tolerate each other to good in a small environment and will use sweeper tentacle's and other form's of defense to attack other coral's so just look into each coral you want and think about it's need room from other coral's of the same type or different species.

mr.reef24