thinking about t-5s

[xd]

ok i might be getting some new t-5s in a week or 2 for my 30gallon. and i have a couple of questions.
1. how would i go about acclimating my corals up to t-5s?
2. can someone give me a list of corals i could keep under t-5s
3. wat do you think a reasonable price for a t-5 fixture would be?

 

[xd]

c'mon someone out there has to have some opinion. and i have ben researching corals alot latley and i have made a small list of some corals i would like to keep.
-yellow fiji leather
-xenia or GSP
-zoos
-sun coral
-acro
im not sure bout anymore right now but ill keep looking,. so how does this sound? i am going into the lfs thi friday to talk to the guy who is going to order my lights so i can have som more details on that later, but im trying not to go broke by buying these lights

 

[wangotango]

1) depends on what you have as your current lighting system. leave the new lights on for maybe an hour or two a day, then increase an hour or so every few days.
2) anything really, provided that is a good setup (individual reflectors, and is active cooled). the right T5 setup can have equal or greater par ratings than a halide setup.
3) $300-400 would probably be about right. if you have a canopy and are handy, a retrofit kit would be cheaper.
-Justin

 

[xd]

well my current lights arent very bright only like 24 watts. so would i only have the new lights on, or would i have the old ones on for most of the day then the t-5s for a couple hours until they are completely acclimated. and right now the only corals i have are mushrooms and a kenya tree. yea i am looking for a sytsem with individual reflectors and that is active cooled.

 

[wangotango]

you would completely remove your old lighting and just use the new system for the acclimation. a 4 bulb TEK fixture or the 5 bulb aquactinics fixture would be great. no limitations as to what you would be able to keep. both have individual reflectors, but aquactinics has built-in fans.
the 36" 4 bulb TEK runs about $320 + bulbs, and the aquactinics 36" TX5 runs just a few bucks more + bulbs. ATI bulbs are probably one of the best you can get.
-Justin

 

[xd]

so i would only light the tank for like 2 hours a day then add like 1 hour every four days? ok well ill talk to the guy at the lfs about getting the 4 bulb TEK. ty for the help.

 

[nycbob]

with the coral u hv listed, u dont really need to light acclimate them. but i guess it cant hurt either. i switch to t5 3 months ago and didnt light acclimated my corals. they seem to be doing fine if not better. i hv all of the corals u listed except the sun coral. on the other hand, if u r chaning to metal halide, then u should acclimate them.

 

[xd]

well i have been thinking about this constantly and im not sure i if want to spend 300-400$ on lights cosidering im only 15, and i know i would never hear the end of it from family and friends if i spend 300 dollars on lights for a fish tank lol. it is hard living in a house were you are the only one who underdstands fish and there needs uuugggg. i was thinking maybe going with a good compact system for this tank instead and then later down the line get a bigger tank and set that up with the t-5s. so if i went with the compact would i still be able to have these corals?
-leathers
-zoos
-GSP
-sun coral
-shrooms
-kenya tree
-plate coral

 

[yogoshio]

shrooms, leathers, and zoos can live in t5. Although, I would suggest looking for some halides on ----. You can find them pretty cheap on there.

 

[yogoshio]

that was e b a y, by the way.

 

[wangotango]

Originally Posted by XD
well i have been thinking about this constantly and im not sure i if want to spend 300-400$ on lights cosidering im only 15, and i know i would never hear the end of it from family and friends if i spend 300 dollars on lights for a fish tank lol. it is hard living in a house were you are the only one who underdstands fish and there needs uuugggg. i was thinking maybe going with a good compact system for this tank instead and then later down the line get a bigger tank and set that up with the t-5s. so if i went with the compact would i still be able to have these corals?
-leathers
-zoos
-GSP
-sun coral
-shrooms
-kenya tree
-plate coral
these corals will all do fine under powercompacts, but things like sps, clams, and anemonies will not do well. just remember that although they may be cheaper upfront, the bulbs need to be replaced every 6-8 months which will add up after a while. normally driven T5's can last anywhere from 18-24 months.
-Justin

 

[xd]

ok well i went onto the lfs today and they had a pc system that i liked but the guy in there told me that i could probably find a 175 watt metal halide system online for dirt cheap so i think i might go that route. but the only problem i have with metal halides is instalation. do they have to be suspended above the tank because i dont have a canopy just a hood, so how would i go about that? and there are no fish in the tank at the moment but there are some mushrooms and a kenya tree coral, would i need to acclimate them up to metal halides? and if so would i acclimate the same way as posted before? and that is a call to anyone who has a metal halide system that would work for a 29 gallon tank that they want to sell.

 

[xd]

well i did some searching ad i like the 150 watt 30 inch SunPod HQI metal halide system i saw. but i dont want to have to spend 300 dollars on it, if i can get it used for cheaper, so anyone out there have one they are willing to sell?

 

[milkman]

I run a Nova Extreme with 3 luner lights and fan built in. Cost 189$ The fixture is 36inchs long but they also sell a 2 ft model but your tank size is 30inchs.

 

[xd]

well i went online and found a 130 watt PC fixture for 70$ so i will be getting that. i figured that if i bought metal halides for a tank so small i would run out of room for corals too fast so i will be waiting until i set up a bigger tank to do matal halides. so with this system i could keep LPS,Polyps,and Softies?