What corals will live under T5-HO bulbs?

[puffcrusader696]

basically anything if you have both normal daylight and actinic bulbs. even some hard corals will be ok under t5

 

[puffcrusader696]

i think its a sattle puffer? i though puffers eat corals?

my black saddled toby doesnt eat coral.

 

[Pufferpunk]

OK, you doubters, here are some SPS kept in there:

Oh yeah & the clams:

Don't forget the anemone (this guy's a foot across):

Yes, many Valentinis are reef safe (of course it is still & puffer & there's always one that may act up).

 

[Nic]

leathers normally, most zoas will be fine. I would be weary about the frogspawn or bubble. I wouldn't do lps period. wait till you got some more light than that. I have 160 watts over my tank and it's a 29 gallon and I am still weary with sps and lps even with them at the top.

its about lumens not just watts.... T5 HO put out same and more lumens in some cases.... you can keep any sps or lps under T5ho.... light will be perfect for 24" of water penetration

 

[jimmybling31]

OK, you doubters, here are some SPS kept in there:

Oh yeah & the clams:

Don't forget the anemone (this guy's a foot across):

Yes, many Valentinis are reef safe (of course it is still & puffer & there's always one that may act up).

ok. those are some pretty ok looking sps. still that is twice the lighting as what he's talking about. that also prolly has individual reflectors and looks like it has more daylight that actnic. I would still say to go with metal halide for sps and most lps. that is coming from a guy running a t5/cf setup over their tank with sps and lps. they just never look that great under it. my lps doesn't look anywhere near as good as it should. in the tank it came out of the polyps looked much more vibrant and extended way more than mine. my sps is living, but it's not looking that great. 3 t5 bulbs just aren't enough for too much.

 

[jimmybling31]

its about lumens not just watts.... T5 HO put out same and more lumens in some cases.... you can keep any sps or lps under T5ho.... light will be perfect for 24" of water penetration

i understand that. but not just 3 bulbs. and also it's not lumens you are looking for either. you are looking for par. t5 doesn't put out as much par per watt as metal halide. I am not saying you can't keep lps or sps under t5, but you need a lot of t5 to do it. most setups I have seen with t5 and sps use 6-12 bulbs and are normally diy with individual reflectors and nicer bulbs. most of these setups don't ever look as good as similar setups with just a single metal halide over them and they cost about the same.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Good point--you MUST use individual reflectors with T5s--no doubt about that.

I can keep anything in my tank that can be kept under MH. It's 24" deep, BTW. I only have 1 daylight bulb on there, 2 actinic & 1 pink. The other 2 are some bluish color.

 

[Nic]

i understand that. but not just 3 bulbs. and also it's not lumens you are looking for either. you are looking for par. t5 doesn't put out as much par per watt as metal halide. I am not saying you can't keep lps or sps under t5, but you need a lot of t5 to do it. most setups I have seen with t5 and sps use 6-12 bulbs and are normally diy with individual reflectors and nicer bulbs. most of these setups don't ever look as good as similar setups with just a single metal halide over them and they cost about the same.

next time im at my friends house ill snag some pix of his 75 with 2 bulbs and a sick amount of nice corals.... fixture is nova and geisman(sp?) bulbs

 

[puffcrusader696]

what about this lamp? on a 55? (mine)

 

[Pufferpunk]

What lamp?