6' lighting

[Toxiq Reef]

working on the lighting to the new 72" tank, would running 48" t5ho over the "center" of the tank create too much of a perimeter of light on the edges of the tank? i do want so lower lit areas for softies (trying to move away from MH on this build)

[Timfish]

If your talking about the ends being noticebly darker than the middle I'd say yes. Is it a bad thing? that's up to you, there's plenty of inverts, soft/leather and stony corals that will take the lower light. If you're building the fixure (s) yourself you could stagger the 48" T5s or use some 60" T5s.

[Rjohn]

If your talking about the ends being noticebly darker than the middle I'd say yes. Is it a bad thing? that's up to you, there's plenty of inverts, soft/leather and stony corals that will take the lower light. If you're building the fixure (s) yourself you could stagger the 48" T5s or use some 60" T5s.

You might also try 36" fixtures end to end.

[Toxiq Reef]

36's would come out too expensive in the end I'm thinking

[s_griffin]

I used 2 36". Here was my thinking: if there was a problem with a bulb in the future the whole tank would not be with out light.

[Rjohn]

Some people here have reported problems finding and getting 60'' bulbs. They seemed to be fairly fragile and arrived broken a lot. I think the cost of 36" bulbs is quite a bit less, isn't it?

[Toxiq Reef]

probably going with 8 t5's it'll be mostly softy/lps

[Toxiq Reef]

im just concerned on just how "dark" the ends of the tank will be

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

I have a 6' tank, I'm not sure a 48" light would cut it unless you want the outer edges of the tank to house very low light/ non photosenthetic corals. Which is an option. The non-photo corals are really pretty, just higher maintenance. From what I've seen T5s and PCs don't seem to produce a large amount of radiant light (not like MH do). Not sure I'm using the correct term! The light simply doesn't radiate out far.

I have an almost 400w 6' PC fixture over my tank. I have softies, LPS and a few of the easier SPS growing great. I'd like to upgrade to T5s eventually and it is hard to find an affordable lighting fixture for the big tanks. Options in the 6' range are limited too. You can find tons of smaller fixtures, not the big ones.

I like the two separate fixture idea. I've even thought about a couple of the lower watt MH pendants. It might work out cheaper.

[Toxiq Reef]

what about 5' vho's how many bulbs?

[FragsandMore]

you could always do 4 footers just over one end of the tank, giving 2 feet of darker area all together, instead of one foot at each end. Then you could easily put all the lower light corals and non-photosynthetic stuff at one end and be able to see and watch the different environments co-exist on your tank. just a thought

[Kkiel02]

I know your tank is 6' long but what are your other dimensions? You could do 4 footers with a 2 foot light on either end perpendicular if you have the room.

Right now I only have 2 250w pendants and 4 foot vhos for supplement over my 180. I bought it this way but it suprisingly has pretty good coverage. My sps grows all over so I dont complain.

[Toxiq Reef]

I'd go with just 2 mh with actinics, but it's a double brace frame, shadows would be bad

[jrsatx20]

How bout 2 24 in fixtures. U could leave 8in on the ends n there will only be 8in in the middle a lil darker.

[+ACampbell]

I have two 60" t5 fixtures with reflectors I will give you. They have old atinic bulbs in them. Beware that bulbs are hard to find locally and shipping them often ends with a L shape tube on the front door.

[+Lamont]

You could use a 48" fixture but it will depend on how tall the tank is and how the rock is stacked. You would also have to use a hanging kit. Adjust the height of the fixture until its to your as well as the corals liking. (trial and error) You could also go with a retro fit kit. I have seen some great custom fixtures on ARC. I'm pretty sure some one will have a good amount of info for you.