Are T5's better??

[2g2ner]

I currently have a 29 gallon high tank with some corals. I'm looking to upgrade my lights to T5's. I have 175w of power compacts now and I would be buying 96w of T5's. My question is, is going from 175w of PC to only 96w of T5 an upgrade or downgrade? And how so?

 

[Fishguy2727]

I had 4x96 watts of compat fluorescents on my 45 tall reef and had all types of corals growing well. If what you have is working for you I wouldn't 'fix' it. If you start to have issues that could be caused by insufficient lighting then you could look into an upgrade to a high quality T5 fixture (HOT5 with individual curved reflectors, as many bulbs that you can fit on the tank).

 

[2g2ner]

Yea my corals seem to be doing well but I had the exact setup before and my corals did well for 3 weeks and then everything closed and never opened again. So I'm just wondering if It could be the lights. I know the bulbs need to be changed so that's why I'm thinking of just spending the money on a new light instead of the bulbs.

 

[Gti_Leo]

96watts over the 29g with T5s is enough to grow whatever corals you want and you'll save alot of wattage.

going with to many T5s say a 6 lamp yyou reach the possibility of burning your low light corals and can burn youre low light corals

 

[Fishguy2727]

Many things can cause problems for corals. If it is inadequate lighting they will likely brown out and lose color, not just close up and die.

They can be sensitive to certain issues, but tend to recover to most issues quite well if the problem is recognized and fixed. What corals were they?

 

[2g2ner]

I have always went by the more wattage the better. I used the 3-5 watt rule of thumb. But I have been into fish tanks for along time. When I started the power compacts were the new and best so I guess now there out of date. I think I'm going to switch to the T5 fixture and see how that goes.

 

[2g2ner]

The corals I had were all beginner corals. I had leathers GSP's mushrooms and zoo's. I never had any luck with the GSP growing. They had always stayed the same size. Everyone says there taking over their tanks and I can't get mine to grow. Here is my tank as of now. Just a big leather, a small leather and a frag of GSP.

 

[Gti_Leo]

no way dos the whole wattage per gallon aPPLY ANYMORE, THECHNOLOGIES HAVE IMPROVED WAY TO MUCH FOR THAT TO EVEN BE CONSIDERED

EDIT: oops sorry for the capslock

 

[deepseadan]

I went from t5's Ho to led on one of my tanks 9 months ago. Ecoxotic panorama leds are great way to go, especially on such a small tank. In fact they even have a new higher watt model that just came out. I can only speak for the originals, but everything I've put under them, (sps and lps) are doing amazing. No heat transfer, low wattage, awesome shimmer effect, no bulbs to change, so far there living up to the hype. Just my 2 cents. The future may eventually be in leds.

 

[2g2ner]

I just bought 2 T5 fixtures with 2 24w bulbs each. What types of corals could I keep and grow now?

 

[Gti_Leo]

do each have individule reflectors?, if so you can grow whatever you want in a 29g, if not you'll probably be limited to mid light LPS which is not bad cuz must of the mid light LPS are the best looking, my fav the hammer coral

 

[2g2ner]

Yes. Each bulb has there own reflector. So does this mean I can keep corals that require high light like clams and acropora?

 

[deepseadan]

Yes. Each bulb has there own reflector. So does this mean I can keep corals that require high light like clams and acropora?

Yes, you should be able to keep some acros and clams. Just remember, light is only part of the equation. In my experience, I've found current and water quality to be far more important. In the old days, my brother had a tank with two 400 watt halides, but poor parameters (no maintenance ever) and no current. He bought a bunch of sps including acros and they were all dying. I thought I would give them a shot, since they were dying anyway, and sure enough most of them grew back amazingly. I had a small tank (30 gal) pc's and tons of current. Your t5's should have plenty of light to grow what you want, of course pretty much all of today's options for lights are pretty good. I can't believe how good one of my reefs is doing under 1 watt leds. Good luck and let us know how your lights work out.

 

[Gti_Leo]

sure you could house arcos and clams, but if thats what you plan, then make sure your perameters are prestine, nitrates no higher then 5ppm and phosphates non existant. also better keep up on your calcium and essential trace elements. acros are ammong the hardest to keep, and its not just light that they need to grow and stay colored