Lighting question

[heyz0os]

I've asked this question before, but I have a little to add on:]

I want to get a t5 for my 37 gal bowfront. Now, I want to get a t5 with 2 bulbs. Would that be enough to keep soft corals? Zooanthids?

 

[iDream]

Yup, most likely. How deep is it just to ask?

 

[heyz0os]

Yup, most likely. How deep is it just to ask?

Most likely? Huh...you're the first one to say yes hahah maybe the way i asked gave the assumption that i wanted ALL corals? oh and its 21 inches deep

 

[SteveFishman]

That's kinda deep I have a 23 inch deep tank with metal halides and it works great

 

[thominil]

T5 HO bulbs penetrate to a depth of 24" if I remember right. You are fine for just soft corals, but with you being towards the high end of the max depth penetration, you may want to place things in the upper 2/3 or 1/2 of the tank instead of on the bottom to achieve best color and growth from everything. I do however, recommend that you look and invest in a T5 HO set-up in the range of 4-6 bulbs since later you may want to move into some of the higher light LPS and SPS corals. Buying the better fixture now will save you some cash in the long run. Hope this helps.

 

[heyz0os]

T5 HO bulbs penetrate to a depth of 24" if I remember right. You are fine for just soft corals, but with you being towards the high end of the max depth penetration, you may want to place things in the upper 2/3 or 1/2 of the tank instead of on the bottom to achieve best color and growth from everything. I do however, recommend that you look and invest in a T5 HO set-up in the range of 4-6 bulbs since later you may want to move into some of the higher light LPS and SPS corals. Buying the better fixture now will save you some cash in the long run. Hope this helps.

True:] But i want to start with corals now, it's my first tank and well i dont want to invest too much money yet since the tank might stay here in my room when i leave for cal state long beach in 2012. I'm only going to be at this current college for another 2 years or so so yeah that's my situation:] So in the mean time, should i go for the 2 bulb? I will upgrade to 4-6 bulbs later once i graduate cal state.

 

[thominil]

I would wait for someone to verify my response before you make a move. I went without AA for a few months, so my "facts" are a bit rusty, but I'm pretty sure I'm correct that you would be fine.

 

[iDream]

Yeah, that's all I was gonna add to it. Place them a bit higher since you only have 2 bulbs, but softies and (placed higher in the tank) LPS would be fine IMO


Also there's a fixture (Aquaticlife I belive) that they make in 2-bulb, and you can connect multiple ones together to look like one larger fixture. So you can upgrade and not replace the fixture completely.


Here it is:http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticL...xtures-AquaticLife-AK01138-FILTFIT54U-vi.html