My bulb configuration??

M

MWood

I am still in the "cycling" phase of starting my tank. I have a 50 gallon tank that is 18in tall. I will be running 4 T5's on an icecap 660. I have noticed this configuration on some.

1 - 75.25 14K UVL
2 - Blue Plus ATI
1 - 12K aquablue ATI

Is this the best bulb matchup for my tank? I am looking to be able to host anything, but understand that SPS would be difficult without MH's

Any input and opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
You should be able to keep most SPS... Monti's for sure and most acro's with that. I use 4 T-5 over my 65G frag tank and if your tank is only 18" you should be okay, though you might need to anchor them up higher or extend your photo period. This is assuming they are 39W and not 24W.

As far as your bulb configuration it depends on how blue you want it to look. Unless you wired it to run one or two independent of the others, you have a lot of blue in there. On mine I run 3 Blue Plus and the ATI Pro Color.

T-5 Bulb combos are a combo of color and amount of light, so do the color combo you want and go slow on the stocking to see how your corals do and adjust from there.
 
I highly recommend you contact GrimReefer over at ReefCentral.com. Just shoot him a PM, give him your lighting unit, and he'll turn around and tell your bulb config front to back.

He's a T5 expert and will help you get the most out of your bulbs. I switched to T5's a year ago and my SPS thrives. It doesn't grow as fast as it would under Halides, but the color of it is just awesome.
 
I think you have a pretty good combo there - as mentioned above, depends on how "blue" you like the look to be. If you want it bluer, I suggest using a UVL Super Actinic (violet) instead of the UVL 75/25 (light pink/purple).

Also, use a Blue Plus as the front lamp.

Good luck!
 
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