What will this lighting support?

[daveverdo]

I have a 90g display with 5 x 48" HO-T5 (54W) with individual reflectors (2 ~20,000K, 3 6500K). The tank is 24" tall with the distance from the water level to the sandbed about 22".

I have two different frogspawn and some zoos on the bed and a green sarco in the lower half and they are doing well. I also have some rics, shrooms, and zoos at different levels up to about midway and all are doing fine.

What other corals do you think this level of lighting will support?

If possible, be specific, by that I mean LPS, SPS won't really help me. If you can suggest specific types of LPS, SPS, leathers, etc, that would be helpful.

Other info: My water quality isn't the greatest, I do have a Octopus NW200 and a refgium.

Dave

[greggnyce]

You are going to want very good water quality for sps. you can probably keep some montipora capricornas up high. As for lps you can keep most of them. If you are not sure whioch corals are LPS, you can go to a dealers website and they are usually catagorized by sps, lps, and softies.

[daveverdo]

greggnyce

Thanks.

I know which are LPS, SPS and so on. I am also know that not all LPS or SPS require the same lighting requirements. Thats is why I asked for specifics.

Did you suggest monti because the light is enough or because it doesn't need the highest water quality?

Dave

[greggnyce]

Both, alot of people keep sps under t5's but your water quality and movement must be up to par. Montiporas tend to be hardier sps. You should be good for alot of lps depending where you keep them in the tank. You will just have to keep an eye on them and move them up as needed.

[bmartin]

Fotr lps just about any thing. For sps you can do montis (capricornis and digitota) Poccipora, cats paw, and some lower light acros. Stay away from shallow water acroproras.

[SkiFletch]

Most Milleporas or stylophoras will do fine in this setup. You could also go with your easier nems like bubble tips and if you put it very high in the rockwork, you could prolly also get away with a Tridacnid clam provided you buy it already decently sized (no babies)

[RandyO]

Hey Dave,

Can you be more specific with what kind of light you have?

It makes a difference if you have a Current USA Nova Extreme Pro fixture vs. a Tek light, vs. a retrofit setup run on an Icecap ballast.

I run a 120 gallon with 4 T5's (1 AquaSun, 1 Uv Actinic, 2 Current 460nm) with individual reflectors overdriven with an IceCap 660 ballast running 6 hours a day. It is an LPS dominated tank and they are doing very well.