lighting reef help

shinobi9119

shinobi9119

Active Member
i need some help with my lighting for a tank. It is 75 gallons, and will be a reef tank. There is a center brace, is that a problem.
The corals I am planning on keeping are
4 different mushroom corals
1 leather cabbage
some zoos a little later
and maybe a BTA
Dont know if those affect it. but
I have looked at some different T-5 set-ups 4 5 7 bulb, but i just dont know how many watts i need. But im not limiting myself to t-5. Help plz. Suggestions on anything.
 
ncacura

ncacura

Member
Go big or go home.......you'll thank yourself later on. I currently have a 75gal. setup with corals, clams, etc. I have a current 2X250W Metal Halide setup with lunar lights. If your planning on having corals, get metal halides. They're expensive but it looks awesome when it's all set-up. I bought my setup for $550. That's the cheapest you're going to find. Guranteed. I forgot the site I got it from, when I get home today I'll post the site.
 
travis89

travis89

Active Member
A 7-8 bulb T5 setup will be plenty to keep those corals, SPS would also be fine if you get a good fixture, TEK and aquactinic is what I would recommend. MH will be good to but they run a lot hotter then T5.
 
D

dragonzim

Active Member
You definitely want to get either T5 or Metal Halide. Personally, I have 6 bulb TEK T5 system on my 75 reef and it works great for me. Right now I have some LPS, mushrooms, kenya tree and xenia and it is all thriving.
 
am00re34

am00re34

Member
Ditto to what everyone else said.
MH is the way to go, but that can often present other issues (heat) which might be even more costly. I personally think it makes everything look much better (the water sparkle)
T-5 is also a way to go, not as good as MH, but will be able to keep anything you mentioned. I dont know from personal experiance, but have been told my numerous people that T-5's will be able to keep anything you throw at it. If you have something that needs a lot of light, put it at the top. W/ t5's you might have some heat issues, but not nearly as much as with MH. A simple fan will take care of the T5 heat.
 
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