SPS lighting

dinger28 · 08/01/2016, 04:40 AM

Hey all. I just received a 6 bulb Aquatic Life T5 fixture to put over my 75 gallon. I have a couple of SPS, with more LPS. However, I am going to want to convert it to SPS over the course of this school year (reef tank is in my 4th grade classroom). I'm assuming 6 bulbs would be ok, but hopefully not too much for my lps still in the tank.What bulb combination do you guys think I should do? Ordered the following: 4 blue plus, 2 aqua blue special, 1 coral plus, and 1 purple plus. Want between and 14 and 18k look. All ATI bulbs. Any help is appreciated. Thanks so much!!

nmotz · 08/01/2016, 10:47 PM

Seems like bulb combination is subject to taste more than anything else, but the bulbs you got seem to be fairly standard choices. 6 bulb fixture will be fine for LPS/SPS, just mind your coral placement. As with any lighting system, you'll need to plan out zones in the tank for the different corals. It's amazing just the difference that makes.

For example, I had two different types of birdsnest corals that responded very differently to the lighting in my tank. One wanted very high light while the other wanted moderate at best. I want to say the two were S. Caliendrium and S. Guttatus. Also, they both wanted to be just about blasted off the rocks with high flow.

08/01/2016, 04:40 AM	#1
dinger28 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Indian Land, SC Posts: 385	SPS lighting Hey all. I just received a 6 bulb Aquatic Life T5 fixture to put over my 75 gallon. I have a couple of SPS, with more LPS. However, I am going to want to convert it to SPS over the course of this school year (reef tank is in my 4th grade classroom). I'm assuming 6 bulbs would be ok, but hopefully not too much for my lps still in the tank.What bulb combination do you guys think I should do? Ordered the following: 4 blue plus, 2 aqua blue special, 1 coral plus, and 1 purple plus. Want between and 14 and 18k look. All ATI bulbs. Any help is appreciated. Thanks so much!!

08/01/2016, 10:47 PM	#2
nmotz Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: FL, USA Posts: 1,433	Seems like bulb combination is subject to taste more than anything else, but the bulbs you got seem to be fairly standard choices. 6 bulb fixture will be fine for LPS/SPS, just mind your coral placement. As with any lighting system, you'll need to plan out zones in the tank for the different corals. It's amazing just the difference that makes. For example, I had two different types of birdsnest corals that responded very differently to the lighting in my tank. One wanted very high light while the other wanted moderate at best. I want to say the two were S. Caliendrium and S. Guttatus. Also, they both wanted to be just about blasted off the rocks with high flow. __________________ Mantis shrimp are the best! Current Tank Info: 20L Peacock mantis shrimp tank