48" t5ho 72" reef

[Tobykourtney]

I'm debating on buying a 6x54 ati sunpower and keeping sps in the middle 48 inches and lps and zoanthids on the dimmer 12" on each side. I would get a 6x80 but I'm worried I may have to much light for lps throughout the tank. The aquarium is a standard 125 gallon 72x18.5x23.5. What do you guys think?

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[mr_X]

I think it's a bad idea. You are not going to like the dark edges. Why would you consider purchasing a fixture that's quite expensive, and has 150 dollars in bulb changes every 9 months or so, over LED units?
LPS would be fine under a 540 watt T5 fixture FYI. I had an 8' x 17" tall tank a few years back that I ran two 8x54 watt T5 fixtures over. All the lamps were the typical ATI lineup. I had sps, lps, and clams all over the place and all did just fine.

 

[Tobykourtney]

To be honest I have leds on my 20 gallon high and I'm not a huge fan. I've seen kessil, radions,and maxspect in person and I like the t5
Lighting better. The shading gets me. Especially with large sps colony's I've seen one side looks good but the backside will have virtually to light.

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[mr_X]

That's basically what the sun does. lights from a single point. There will be shaded areas, but that really shouldn't hurt anything....but...that's why there are so many flavors of ice cream
You might look into a retrofit kit to mount into a hood if you have one. You could stagger the lamps and this would light up the tank more evenly. If not, I wouldn't be concerned about overlighting with a 6 x 80 watt fixture. You see, T5 lamps emit light the whole 4 or 5 feet, and not brighter from a point like halides or LED does, so intensity won't be much more at a certain point, but spread out.
In other words, the 80 watts are needed to power the entire 5' lamp, it's not brighter than the 54 watt lamp right in the middle. If it is, it's not by much, and you can't tell with the naked eye.

 

[Tobykourtney]

If I was to go with the 60 inch I would do the 4x60 since it's only 9.5 inches wide and mount a buildmyled unit on both ends. The reason for my concern on the 6x80 is I would have 300 par at the sand bed which to me seems excessive for everything but high light sps.

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[Tobykourtney]

Here's what I'm talking about with the shading.

Kind of a crappy example since it's a small frag but you get the idea.

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[carey]

I'm not entirely sure I understand why you would put a four foot light over a six foot tank. Especially with t5's, as MR X said above, the tank can take the full power of t5's and not burn anything out. I have a 6 foot 12 bulb current t5 fixture over my 180g six foot tank and it is the perfect amount of light, over the entire tank. I don't think you would be very happy in the end if you had that kind of massive shading on the sides.

You and I are the only people I think who don't really dig the leds'. lol I have 6 tanks up and 2 run led's the rest are on t5's. Even with the added annual cost I still like my t5's, maybe cause I am used to the light and performance they put out. I have had nothing but trouble with led's, I wish I could have the success so many others have with them but I just don't get it. lol

 

[Tobykourtney]

I'll go with the 4x80 then. I really don't see 100 bucks in bulb changes once a year as a deal breaker. The fixture isn't really that expensive either 470 dollars shipped.

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[mr_X]

I don't see anything wring with the coral in the pic. The white is part of the plug, right?

About the PAR numbers...your tank is 21" tall. My tank was 17" tall. I had a total of sixteen 54 watt lamps over it and nothing was complaining. As a matter of fact, I bought out a tank full of brown sps and colored them all back up very nicely under those fixtures. See....loaded with all sorts of stuff-

 

[mr_X]

4 lamps is not going to do it.

 

[Tobykourtney]

6 lamps it is then. Yea the white is part of the plug I use 2 part epoxy instead of glue (I dread reef glue)

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