Light help

clown4life

Member
Hi my name is Andrew and I would like a reef tank but don't know much about lighting. I have a 90gallon tank about two feet deep, 2-3 inches of live sand and idk 40- 60lbs of live rock. I have some fish and would like to do some coral, polyps, zoos, and mushrooms. I really like the open brain coral and plan on getting a green and red one. I like acros but I know they need a lot of light. I don't like the stony stuff manly the soft. So what would yall suggest on lights? Where from and how much? Also how much wattage?
 

ci11337

Active Member
First of all, LPS corals are stony corals, they have a hard skeleton. For the corals you mentioned i would go with a T5 fixture that holds 6 bulbs and has individual reflectors.I would go with 3 10k bulbs and 3 actinics. be sure to research what brand of bulbs are good. This will allow you to keep softies(zoos,shrooms,leathers) any where in the tank and LPS (brains, hammers, candies) in the upper half.(you could probably get away with LPS anywhere with the mentioned light but to be safe put them higher) Keep in mind that if you keep stony corals you will have to keep an eye on your calcium and alkalinity levels along with the usual stuff. You may have to add B-ionic or another calc./alk. supplement if your levels fall to low.(but if you only have a couple LPs you probably won't have to worry about this.) another thing, since you will be adding more light algae can grow faster if there is too much nutrients in the tank. Therefore, a good skimmer is necessary if you don't have one. what kind of fish etc. do you already have in the tank? Some fish eat corals. and remember, take your time, research, and do it right the first time.
 
i have the nova extreme pros (6 x 54) i think they are better than the 8 bulb. Number of bulbs means nothing in T5;s without individual reflecters. I havent tested many corals yet but my frog spawn and Zoos fell in love with it. I know several people on this board who think they are great. just my 2 cents.
My Frog under nova blues
 

ci11337

Active Member
The 8 bulb nova dosen't have individual reflectors and would actually give you less intense light than the nova extreme pro (6 x 54) Any 6 bulb fixture with individual reflectors will do.
 
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