sapphiredonna
02/14/2008, 02:04 PM
First off, sorry if there is an entire article about this that I just managed to miss.
I set up my 20 gallon long reef and I'll be honest, I didn't do a huge amount of research. I put a 24 inch Coralife Aqualight PC on and everything did alright, then added a Coralife dual T5 fixture. Both seem to work fine.
I just recently started up a 5.5 gallon nano-reef and it's much more difficult to find lighting for something that small. I can find some PCs and a very few T5s. So my question is .... which is better, PCs or T5s? I personally like T5s a little more simply because the bulbs are so easy to change (I haven't had to replace my PC bulbs but they look more complicated). I've noticed that most places selling the Coralife T5 fixtures say that they're only recommended for fish-only tanks, which makes me think the PCs are more powerful? (And I'm not determined to have a Coralife fixture, it's just the brand I'm most familiar with so I've been looking at more of them).
I'm only planning on having softies (kenya trees, zoanthids and mushrooms) in my nano tank so I don't need the best lighting ever, but if I'm going to spend $50-$100 on lighting I'd rather get the better fixture.
Any recommendations for a fixture would also be much appreciated.
Thanks. : )
I set up my 20 gallon long reef and I'll be honest, I didn't do a huge amount of research. I put a 24 inch Coralife Aqualight PC on and everything did alright, then added a Coralife dual T5 fixture. Both seem to work fine.
I just recently started up a 5.5 gallon nano-reef and it's much more difficult to find lighting for something that small. I can find some PCs and a very few T5s. So my question is .... which is better, PCs or T5s? I personally like T5s a little more simply because the bulbs are so easy to change (I haven't had to replace my PC bulbs but they look more complicated). I've noticed that most places selling the Coralife T5 fixtures say that they're only recommended for fish-only tanks, which makes me think the PCs are more powerful? (And I'm not determined to have a Coralife fixture, it's just the brand I'm most familiar with so I've been looking at more of them).
I'm only planning on having softies (kenya trees, zoanthids and mushrooms) in my nano tank so I don't need the best lighting ever, but if I'm going to spend $50-$100 on lighting I'd rather get the better fixture.
Any recommendations for a fixture would also be much appreciated.
Thanks. : )