lighting for a 29 gallon

marine7198

marine7198

Member
hey everyone,
first off... i have a 29 gallon tank set up for about a year now it has 24inch current usa 4x24 t5ho puts out 96 watts total, i have various mushrooms, leather coral,GSP and a bubble tip anemone they have all been it the tank for awhile now, my question is what are my limits on corals, lps sps ect? i dont want to keep something if i cant take care of it. and my other question is if i put this lighting system on a 20 gallon long that i want to set up would it be sufficient enough for any coral? if so what would be a good upgrade for the 29 gallon? sorry for all the questions hope to hear back some responses thanks!
 
racingtiger03

racingtiger03

Member
a good upgrade if you really wanted it would be a 150 watt metal halide. Other than that yours should be fine for anything I would think. I have a 29 gallon running the nova extreme t-5 (from what I can tell the same as yours) except I got one a bit long for the tank (36" vs the 24"). I did this to have full even lighting over the whole tank. In your case I think you could do some SPS up high and in the center, but an upgrade would fare a little better. I have only one digitata in my tank and it is surviving, but isn't showing great growth. That said I have an RBTA as well and it is doing GREAT under these lights as well :)
 
jigga w00t

jigga w00t

Member
LPS will be fine with the current lights, even in the sand bed. (BTW I have a 40G breeder thats 18" tall, 4X39W T5 ho lights). I have several small colonies of acans that are growing nicely, a happy derasa clam midway up in the rockwork, and some monti digitata (which are as close as you can get to sps) frags in the sand bed (that will be moved higher since they aren't as colorful...). All seem to be doing well, you may not even need to upgrade for that 20 long, since it isn't that tall of a tank.
I'm curious what some of those mh guys will say though... Concerning sps, there may be some doubt if the T5's are good enough, but no doubt if you go for that 150W mh...
Also, if you plan to go with a maxima or derasa clam, you might as well go MH!
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
4x24w t5 over a 29 is sufficient for almost anything assuming each bulb is individual reflected. u'd be surprised at what t5 can do with the right bulbs, such as those by ati and giesemann. if u dont hv individual reflectors on the fixture, uvi sells t5 bulbs with build-in reflectors.
 
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