Looking for experiances with T5's

[Kogo]

I'm not new to reef keeping, but I have never used T5's. Recently i was given a 4 x 54w T5 fixture (sundial by current) the fixture is currently running 2x10k and 2xActinic.

I think the light will be sufficient for corals in a 55g, but I would love to see some tanks run with a four bulb T5 setup to give me a better idea of how well it would work.

so if you need an excuse to post pics... feel free...

or, if you have experiance with this fixture over a 55g feel free to throw in your 2 cents.

Thanks

 

[Heathd]

I have basically the same fixture. You can do easy sps like birdsnest and encrusting, and all shrooms, polps, zoas, and other photosynthetic softies, along with LPS. The picture is going to look dim, but thats because I adjust the EV on my camera almost all the way down, to avoid the bleaching effect i get when taking photos. Unfortunately, my FTS never shows all the crap I really have in my tank.

 

[FLESHY]

Just wait heathd...you will get there.

Took me awhile to make it look like I had corals too.

 

[thisissimple]

I had that exact fixture on a 90 several years ago. It worked pretty well for me, though I did mostly LPS and macro algaes in that tank.

As a side note, the Tang was put into a much bigger tank within 2 months of taking these pics. The location of the frogspawn was actually too bright and I ended up moving it down. The LTA did great and lived with me for 5 more years after these shots before finding his way into a display at the local LFS (he was about 2' in diameter by then)

The Anthias? Well, I wont be doing them again unless I get a really, really big tank.

 

[FLESHY]

Chooch. (The sailfin) Such a great fish.

The maroon on the other hand, was not.

 

[LD50]

I'm not new to reef keeping, but I have never used T5's. Recently i was given a 4 x 54w T5 fixture (sundial by current) the fixture is currently running 2x10k and 2xActinic.

I think the light will be sufficient for corals in a 55g, but I would love to see some tanks run with a four bulb T5 setup to give me a better idea of how well it would work.

so if you need an excuse to post pics... feel free...

or, if you have experiance with this fixture over a 55g feel free to throw in your 2 cents.

Thanks

That light on a 55 should be able to grow just about anything, even on a 75 or 90 you would bee good to go depending on placement. Just remember to keep fresh bulbs in it, replace them every 9 to 12 mo.

Chooch. (The sailfin) Such a great fish.

The maroon on the other hand, was not.

aww why no love for the maroons? Large female GBM clowns are stunning!

 

[Kogo]

Thanks for the replies all, I think it will soon be lighting yet another tank in my arsenal of glass boxes.

 

[Pazzoman]

Chooch. (The sailfin) Such a great fish.

The maroon on the other hand, was not.

Chooch pretty sure thats italian for something....also what tank size do you guys think a sail fin tang needs? Not that im interested just that my cousin has a 6-7 inch in a 65 gallon tank. Also the tang develop latteral line disease and is being medicated.

 

[nonstophoops]

Chooch pretty sure thats italian for something....also what tank size do you guys think a sail fin tang needs? Not that im interested just that my cousin has a 6-7 inch in a 65 gallon tank. Also the tang develop latteral line disease and is being medicated.

Sailfin tangs need much larger tanks than a 65 gallon. 65 gallons should only be adequate at best when the fish is very small. With a sailfin at 6 inches they need a 6 foot tank, so something like a 125 gallon will work. However, they can and will continue to grow to a foot or more. Then a 125 may even be too small.

For the entire life of the fish a 125 is the absolute smallest I can recommend and anything better would be nice.

If the tang developed lateral line, it should not only be medicated until it gets better, but fed better long term. Vitamin supplements are a must including Vitamin C(linked to lateral line) soaked foods. Having clips of nori in the tank are also great for helping keep the tang healthy and fed. Nori is available at Whole Foods or almost any local oriental foods store. Having good live rock in the tank also helps as the fish can pick all day at different organisms and plants on the rock that can't be supplied by aquarists.

 

[LD50]

Chooch pretty sure thats italian for something....also what tank size do you guys think a sail fin tang needs? Not that im interested just that my cousin has a 6-7 inch in a 65 gallon tank. Also the tang develop latteral line disease and is being medicated.

Sailfin's get quite large 16-18 inches so...I'm going to say they need about 150g minimum. Also HLLE is not really a medicatable disease, it comes from poor water quality and diet. Most tangs are pretty touchy about water quality and they constantly need veggies to graze on to be healthy. Fresh nori sheets or live maco red, brown and green but mostly green seem to be favorites for my tang. Meaty foods like mysis and pellets are fine but they deff need constant veggies to graze on to stay healthy. Hope this helps and GL.