Distance for T5's

[Maveri9720]

Hey all, I have a 40L, 36 x 18 x 13 frag tank. I have 4 x 39w T5HO, 2 Daylights and 2 Actinics in a Nova Extreme fixture. Single reflector for all 4 bulbs.

Anyways, when I started, I used the legs that came with it and sat it on my tank. The distance from the bulbs to the corals was about 9" or so. One of my frags totally bleached and the others didn't look too hot, so I rigged up a hanging system for the light and raised it up to about 15" or so. After a few weeks, everything looked OK, but no great color, so I lowered it down to about 12". Few weeks later, no big change, so I lowered it down to 10" last week. Hard to tell if there are any changes yet.

So, I thought I would post here and find out what other T5 users have experienced and what has worked best for them.

My tank is BB and I am using eggcrate with 2 different heights. I have LPS, SPS, softies, zoo's, shrooms, etc. I care most about my SPS, as the others are doing well. This tank is plumbed into my main tank and all the param's are good. I have 2 Tunze nano's, modded, blowing from the bottom L and R corners to the front center, to keep detritus and other gunk off of the bottom and in suspension, to be carried out by the overflow, along with my return pump blowing across the surface.

I'm just looking for other people's experiences and how long it should take before I start to see changes in the corals from height changes.

If you need any other info, please ask.

Thanks for the help.

[NSC]

Hey Maveri9720, I also have the Nova Extreme and would like to know how you connected your suspension. I have the 8x54 however and am also in the process of finding the right height for my lights. I have a Sunlight Supply suspension kit but haven't used it as there is no obvious way outside of drilling the housing to connect it. How did you do yours?

[Maveri9720]

I bought 2 L brackets from Wally World, along with a plant hanging kit. The kit included something like 25' of black chain and 2 J hooks.

I mounted the L brackets to the wall, screwed the J hooks to the brackets and then looped the chain under the light and back up to the J hook.

I took the legs off. The chain goes under the light at both ends and does a good job of holding it in place and is very easy to adjust the height, along with being cheap.

Sorry, I'm at work and don't have any pics here. Hopefully you get the picture.

[madadi]

i have a 90gal tank with 8 t5s 12in above the water surface and im happy with the results. i do have individual reflectors ever each bulb. i think you mentioned that you have one reflector for all bubls, you might try to put it a bit lower. just to be sure.