Lighting...yet ANOTHER question

[delpni]

I have a 75 gallon tank with T-5 lighting. The lamp has 2 white and 2 blue bulbs, for a total of 216 watts. I am wanting to make this tank primarily corals and anemones; is my lighting sufficient? Currently, along with fish, I have a sebae (spelling?) anemone that is thriving. I have a book on invertebrates however, it does not list lighting requirements other than stating "low light", "medium light", etc. Any advice would be appreciated!
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[misu]

I would say what you have is considered "medium light"
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[smallblock]

I would get a 6 or 8 bulb fixture maybe even upgrade to individual reflectors for each bulb to make the light go deeper in the tank
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[smallblock]

you can play around with bulbs too to maximize what you have too, also you can get overdriven ballast to boost your output on the fixture you have now. Hopefully some of the more experiance guys will lend a hand
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[cr500_af]

It depends on the corals. You'd be fine with softies and probably LPS; you'd probably be a little lacking to keep any SPS unless they were at the top.

The anemone would likely be OK, but would probably "want" more light... which can translate into it walking around trying to find it.

The type of fixture and bulbs is important. A cheap 8 bulb IMO is not as good as a quality 6 bulb fixture. Quality bulbs and individual reflectors mean a lot.

If I were you I'd go with at least a very good quality 6 bulb light if you intend to keep SPS.

 

[smallblock]

barry what are your thoughts on the current nova 8 bulb fixture?
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[lilrobb]

Smallblock;528586 wrote: barry what are your thoughts on the current nova 8 bulb fixture?
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GREAT for the money
I had one on my 55 for a while and growth was phenomenal, wish I had never given that system away.
Now running one for a week on my 90 and still great results - thinking about giving the entire MH idea up...

 

[cr500_af]

LilRobb;528659 wrote: GREAT for the money
I had one on my 55 for a while and growth was phenomenal, wish I had never given that system away.
Now running one for a week on my 90 and still great results - thinking about giving the entire MH idea up...

+1. Rob's 55 was an SPS growing machine!

 

[delpni]

Smallblock;528581 wrote: you can play around with bulbs too to maximize what you have too, also you can get overdriven ballast to boost your output on the fixture you have now. Hopefully some of the more experiance guys will lend a hand
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You mention an overdriven ballast to boost my output? Is this just a seperate ballast that hooks up to my current light fixture so that I can use higher wattage bulbs? There is SO much to learn about all of this! :doh: My current T5 (which I have not owned long enough to invest in a new one already) is a 4 bulb and on the manufacturer's sticker, it says each bulb can be up to 54 watts, totaling 216 watts. I know I'm being kind of redundant of my original post...sorry. :unsure: I also looked at reflectors for the lights however, they do not really give an estimate of how much the "substantially increase the output". Again, thank you all!!

 

[cr500_af]

Some ballasts will put out SLIGHTLY more than rated wattage. This will "overdrive" the bulbs. Too much will blow the bulbs, obviously, so we're talking about slight differences in power. Overdriven bulbs will have a shorter useful life than bulbs run at standard power.

I don't know about T5s, but overdriving metal halides not only makes them brighter, but also tends to shift the color spectrum down (making them whiter/less blue). I think I may have heard the same about T5s but I'll leave that to the guys that use them so you get reliable info.

 

[cr500_af]

How is the output of the ballast measured with a meter? I'd be curious to know so that one ballast can be compared to another while driving the same bulb.