Coralife T-5 Aqualight

[smccarthy]

I have two Coralife T-5 Aqualight 2x21W Double. Each one has 21W 10K T5 bulb and 21W True Actinic 03 T5 bulb. Is this enough lighting for a 40 gal. to keep Anemones and Corals? I have three Anemones now that appear to be doing really good. My wife recently purchased a frag of zoo's, brown mushroom and another coral which looks like green grass. She does not know the exact name for these corals of which I am going to have to do some research on.
Thank you!

 

[smccarthy]

Anyone out there?

 

[cgrant]

you prob wont find alot of people running strictly t5 setup's, most of us are more familiar with halides.
I would call someplace like hellolights or championlighting and see what they say.

 

[smccarthy]

The reason that I ask is because my local pet strore recommended it. One of the employees said that one of the tanks that he takes care of for someone has two of these lights with corals and anemones and it's been doing really good. I would hope he isn't just trying to sell me something. I went there looking to get into compact lighting and he recommended that instead.

 

[cgrant]

be careful what the LFS says, remember they are in it to make money!
But as long as you get enough light with t5's from what i understand you can keep anything.
I like the halide shimmer, thats why i purchased a halide/t5 combo instead of going strictly t5.
My buddy has the aqua medic fixture with pheonix 14k's and actinic t5's and his tank looks great!
my halides should be in today or tomorrow, i wanted something w/moons and bulbs you can swap out of any fixture so i went with the outer orbit fixture for my 210.
whats nice about the new outer orbit 250w mh/t5 fixture is it now has remote ballasts so the fans in the fixture are not roaring like in the 150 models.
Whatever you decide good luck!
I personally like the shimmer of MH and from what i understand/read the t5's dont give you the shimmer that halides do.

 

[wangotango]

are the bulbs high output t5's? i run purely t5's and they are fantastic! if the fixture has individual reflectors and built-in cooling fans, its a good t5 fixture. top t5 brands are ati (not available in usa) aquactinics which is what im running, and tek, in that order. how deep is the tank?
-Justin