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View Full Version : Lighting for 120gal Need help!


zack1a
02/27/2008, 05:45 PM
I need some help choosing lighting for my new 120. I am looking for recomendations other that Halides, I have no interest in competing with the extra heat. I'm hoping to find a way to grow some corals with the least amount of heat. Open to suggestion for what corals i can grow with what lighting. Thanks

reeformadness
02/27/2008, 05:57 PM
MH's are not hotter, but if you want the best option besides MH, I would go with ice cap overdriven T-5's with VHO T-12's for actinics. That's what I use and my corals are growing pretty well. Maybe try 6 T-5's and 2 T-12's run off two 660's. That should be plenty of light. Just make sure you have good air circulation and you should be OK. My tank temp dropped substantially when I switched from 4 T-12 to 3 T-5/1 T-12 on my 75 gallon.

zack1a
02/27/2008, 08:45 PM
I no nothing about T-12's what is the difference between the t-5's and which would need to be the actinics?

cyber_ecco
02/27/2008, 08:54 PM
T12 is the larger bulbs. They have the best actinics for T12's. I would assume you would use the T12's for actinics and the T5's for the 10000k bulbs or aqua blues.

carb850
02/27/2008, 09:17 PM
I would skip the T12's. MH are nice but so are the high end T5HO fixtures. Any number of T5HO fixtures would work fine. First off, you need to decide what type of corals your going to keep.

A 6 bulb TEK T5 fixture may be perfectly fine for a softy tank. But if your wanting a SPS dominated tank you might want to got with a 8 or 10 bulb ATI powermodule fixture (big $$). If you want a canopy and done mind some basic wiring then a T5 retrofit kit with icecap reflectors would be the way to go.

Based upon everything I have read, a MH will produce as much heat watt per watt as a T5 bulb. Same can be said with the T12. However, a T5 with an individual reflector will produce as much par as a T12 but using half the wattage. T5's are so nice because of the ability to have individual parabolic reflectors. This makes them very efficient.