lighting

[ugluk]

I am looking to upgrade my lighting. I currently have a 4x 65 pc light. I am looking at the tek t5 light (which is currently on sale at marine depot) and am trying to decide between the 4 and 6 bulb. Now I know obviously that bigger is for the most part better but I am currently on a tight budget and the 4 bulb would be cheaper on price/buying bulbs/electricity. Then again I dont want to buy a fixture that is not strong enough and end up having to buy a new one down the line (like I am doing now). I just want to keep some basic soft corals in my tank like xenias, zoos, shrooms. The 4 bulb t5 should be enough in a 72 gallon tank?

[seapug]

If it's on sale I'd really recommend the 6 bulb. The great thing about T5 is the variety of bulb choices available. You'll be glad you paid a little more for the two extra slots once you start experimenting with different bulb configurations.

[thegrun]

As stated above, with 6 bulbs your color selections are almost limitless. A 4 bulb fixture is more than adequate for the corals you listed however. If you are sure you will never want to keep SPS corals, anemones or clams, you'll be fine the 4 t-5 bulbs and you should be able to find a bulb combination that though not optimum, will look very nice.

[Felixc395]

4 bulbs will work well as long as you don't want to keep SPS. You could, it would just be tricky. You can always buy the 6 bulb and take out two bulbs to give you the best options for upgrading and such.

[89Foxbody]

You could keep an anemone and basically anything not SPS under a 4 bulb if that's what you want to go with. I'd recommend checking out the Deep Blue Solar Extreme fixture...Great price and great features as well. The stock bulbs aren't great (it comes with bulbs) but they are serviceable for 6 months or so.

[hanley0019]

4 bulbs would work for those corals but its when you eventually start wanting corals that need more light where you will have a problem. My advise would be get the 6bulb one. You can run 4 bulbs on it if your short on cash at the moment. With lighting its cheaper in the long run to get to much than not enough.

[ugluk]

Such a simple idea that I never would have thought of. Thanks, I ordered the 6-bulb and will just use 4 for now. As for experimenting with bulb configurations I have no idea about that. If someone can give me the basics on that I would appreciate. Looks like one more thing I need to learn about.

[ugluk]

Also I have one person saying no anenome with the 4 bulb and one saying yes to an anenome. I would like to get one, can I keep one in my tank with 4 t5s. Also, what is the difference between the high end bulbs like Geisseman and the lower end bulbs? How long before the bulbs need to be changed running 7-9 hours a day? So many questions, cant wait to get my light!

[cfaurote]

I went from PC's to T5's now I'm at 250 watt Halides/PC combo (granted I got ripped of by a LFS called Tropicorium for an Odyssea combo that they claimed was $1200 on sale for $500 and later found out it retails for $300... I'm an impulse buyer and should have researched first... shame on me) You will always want more! I had the 8 bulb Nova Extreme T5 (which went out of business I guess?) But had a hard time keeping any SPS in my 75 gallon. It was probably more attributed to my water parameters though. I'm still kindof new to SPS. The 4 bulb T5's will be fine for softies. I had an anenome under PC's and it did fine till we had the blackout back in 2003 and wiped out my whole tank.

[Yuma]

ulguk,

Look in the lighting forum, there are many many threads dedicated to lighting, including bulb selection and various things on T5 bulbs. Grimreefer has done extensive research on PAR levels, etc. His profile contains a website where he discusses some basics as well as provides several different combination recommendations. Hope that helps!

Yuma

[jp634]

i tried the 4 bulb first on my 75 then purchased the 6 bulb which had done that the first time and then i would have saved $$$$$. in this case more is better so save your $$$ and by a good 6 bulb to start with