Lighting

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Gza166

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
249
Currently have t8 bulbs and I'm limited to that due to my eclipse hood and I don't want to spend the extra money on replace good and lighting fixture. Just started the hobby about two months ago so I'm going slowly. So my question is are their certain t8 bulbs that are good? Meaning brand watt and color temperature and were can I purchase it. Thank you
 
What are you wanting to do with your tank? If your going for reef, corals, anemones ect. T8's are not going to cut it, if your just doing fish and live rock then I'm sure there are 10000k -20000k bulbs out there that would be good. 10000k bulbs are very white colored like diamond white or hyper white, 14000-15000k is white with a blue hue, 20000k is a more intense blue hue, but not like a solid blue light though.
 
Eventually I would like to do a reef tank but I'm limited to the lighting. I did some research and I found some adapters that convert t8 to t5, but I was just wondering g if I can do it with t8 but a different color temperature
 
your not going to have much luck with growing anything with t8's maybe mushrooms, maybe. I would look into a new light fixture.

Maybe a DIY led. What size is your tank?
Here is a link to my diy led thread. You can do something like I did pretty easily and cheaply. I used 9x10w leds, you could use 3 or 6 depending on your tank size and be able to grow anything you want for around $100 and a few hours work.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/diy-budget-led-experiment-200531.html
 
My tank is a 30g. It was giving to me including the sand and live rock
 
Its really up to you. Just T8's are not going to work for a reef tank no matter the bulb, a t5 retrofit would be better, but I would go for a new fixture with T5HO's at least preferably leds.
 
Well I bought a little frag of button polyps from my Lfs and I told him the gallons and the bulbs I'm using he said its ok. Should a place them in a certain spot due to the lighting?
 
Hey Gza,
Your LFS would typically tell you anything they need to, to sell you something. They would tell you a shark would be perfect for a 20 g, if they were selling you the shark.
It takes years to build a somewhat trustworthy relationship with the typical LFS.
Your best bet, is really to research on your own and ask questions on sites like this one. No one here has anything to gain by what they tell you.
Like we discussed on the other thread, T8's really aren't enough for coral. And 2 small T5's would only be able to do soft corals.
Just a suggestion, but maybe make this tank a fish- only set-up, then lights don't matter. This would give you some time to see if you really want to get into the reef side of the hobby. I would try to trade the buttons for a fish that you like, or keep them and see how they do
 
Those look like the clips, but I'm not sure if there would be any issue with the ballasts. I'm def not an electrician. I just don't know if the same ballast would work, going from T8 to T5.
 
Ya I'll have to look into that. Well I greatly appreciate your advice and help.
 
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