Should i get more lights?

[360º]

i currently have a 2 T5HO bulb fixture. one bulb is 10000k and the other actinic.

i would like to keep corals and anemones.

should i add another 2 bulb fixture or will what i have be enough?

or should i just change out the actinic for a 14000K bulb for more light?

 

[mr_X]

you definitely need more than 2 lamps to keep corals and anemones. what are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[360º]

you definitely need more than 2 lamps to keep corals and anemones. what are the dimensions of your tank?

its 4 feet wide and 20 inches high.....

ive had a frogspawn on the sand for about a week and half and its doubled in size

 

[iDream]

i would definitely look at 4 lamps at least for myself

 

[360º]

is 80 dollars a decent price for a 48" 2 bulb t5ho fixture

 

[th08tu]

thats an awesome price, sounds too good to be true actually. Can you describe the fixture a bit?

 

[mr_X]

its 4 feet wide and 20 inches high.....

ive had a frogspawn on the sand for about a week and half and its doubled in size

lol..then you have a magic frogspawn!

 

[abdhalim2]

its 4 feet wide and 20 inches high.....

ive had a frogspawn on the sand for about a week and half and its doubled in size

u should add more lights...

 

[360º]

thats an awesome price, sounds too good to be true actually. Can you describe the fixture a bit?

its an aquagiant fixture. its used but the price is right.... 48" is 80 bucks and 36" is 60 bucks

 

[360º]

will changing my actinic bulb to a 14000k benefit or hurt me?

 

[mr_X]

it will probably benefit you, but not to the extent you are hoping for.
what bulbs are you using right now? if you change to high end lamps, you might squeeze a little more PAR out of that fixture you are using, but still not enough to keep high light corals.
look into ATI and giesemann bulbs. ATI blue plus and ATI aquablue special are nice lamps that are pretty potent.

 

[360º]

its a coralife fixture with coralife bulbs.... 10000k and actinic

 

[cabezon]

Your frogspawn may have doubled in size to look for more light. It did not double the number of heads which. Is a truer sign of growth. You can switch to a 14K from the actinic, but you will lose almost all your blue. Tis will be great for the coral, but you might not like the more brown look of your tank.

If you spend a lttle more or wait to find a used Tek light you will be very happy. A fixture with individual reflectors will put out a very significant amount more useable light than the one you are looking at, which I bet has one rusted piece of metal behind all the lights. It's not worth buying IMHO as you will look to upgrade from that soon.

 

[360º]

it doesnt have a rusted piece of metal..... it actually has 2 reflector above each bulb

 

[cabezon]

Two above each bulb? How does that work?

Might not be bad then

 

[360º]

sorry meant to say it has 2 reflectors, one above each bulb.....

i bought it and set it up

cant believe how much added brightness there is..... i thought the one fixture was bright, but this is wayyyyy brighter

 

[mr_X]

so now you have 2 fixtures above the tank? 4 lamps?

 

[360º]

so now you have 2 fixtures above the tank? 4 lamps?

yup

 

[mr_X]

then you should be ok....for now..lol.
check into those bulbs i mentioned. you'll be glad you did. they are much better than the current lamps.

 

[360º]

i dont know if any of the local stores sell those bulbs... but ill check. all i see mostly is coralife bulbs and sunsun bulbs