polarbear Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I'm thinking of buying a 6 foot retro fit setup from a maast member that has 8 T5 HO and 2 VHO's. All are 4 foot long so the ends over lap to make 10 bulbs down the middle. I'm looking to run this on my 120 gallon 6 foot long tank which I think is 2 feet deep. I wanted to see other members setups and tanks who are running only T5's. Can you please tell what size your tank is and how many lights you are running? Also can you tell what type of corals you are keeping and success rate? Also would like some opinions on the setup I'm thinking of buying. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 T5's work great! I keep maxima clams in the sand bed 36" below the light fixture. In fact my T5 fixture is so powerful I have to be careful when acclimating new corals and most of my LPS are in the shade. All of my fish have a "sun tan" I'm currently using all KZ bulbs and the fixture is the Power Module by ATI Here is a recent picture however when this picture was taken the phosphates were above .20 so you can imagine how it looks when the tank is healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 What do you think about the setup I mentioned above for the 120 gallon long tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 It should be plenty assuming you have good reflectors with new bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 It has tek 2 reflectors with workhorse 7 ballast. I'm not familiar with T5's. Are these good reflectors? As the bulbs have about 6 months on them. He only ran them for 6 hours a day. I know I will have to replace them but with what I have at the moment I don't need to right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 4 t5's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 It's all about the reflectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Are Tex reflectors a good brand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Tek reflectors are pretty decent reflectors. Another important point about T5s is that cooling the bulbs is very important as warmer bulbs lose light output. One of the reasons the ATI fixtures are so great is because they individually cool each bulb, on top of having great reflectors. My open brain has to be kept under a ledge to keep from bleaching, even with the lights 10-12" off the water level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Check the FTS thread over in the photo subforum. Most(all?) of the pics list what lighting is used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Here is my 75 running a Aquactinics TX5 with the following all ATI lamp assortment: front to back blue + actinic aquablue special actinic blue+ All lamps- not 100% color accurate(about 98%) Actinic only FTS-again the color is not 100% accurate but it's pretty close(90%) Forgot the other questions: Mixed corals: LPS, 4 clams, 2 BTAs, rics, zoos. And The Evil GSP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Nice! Do you have like a water proof rumba clean the glass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Yes, sorta. CUC and the super cool, as yet unreleased but soon coming to a LFS near you, Triptronic Mag float. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 Dang Robb that tank is so clean I swear it was set up this weekend! Wanna come clean mine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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