Is this enough lighting on a 120g? (1 Viewer)

[wendy32693]

I have two lights on its a 48" coralife 4 bulb fixture with two 12000k daylights and two actinic bulbs. Then I have another 48" coralife 2 bulb tube light fixture and I have a fiji purple bulb and a giesmann actinuc plus bulb in there. The back side of the tank doesnt get a lot of light buf I have the rocks stacked mainly in the middle so is this ok? Some of the corals are opened up and others are still closed up but that might just be from switching them from my 55 to the 120 on sunday. I mainly have softies and a few lps but I would like to get some sps. The tank is about 22 inches from top to bottom.

 

[wendy32693]

This is the.side where u can see most light is in front

 

[reeftopia]

lights

Think your fine with what you have but sps thrivig might be another story. Others may say diferent. But think you would do good to upgrade your lights at some point

 

[wendy32693]

Would something like an 8 bulb t5 or something like that be what I need for sps?

 

[emixa]

agree with David. Maybe swithing all these lights for (2) 250w MH fixtures or when you have the money, LED fixtures.


just my 2 cents.

 

[wendy32693]

But with halides ive heard of having to run a chiller too, would it be less expensive to go with leds then halides and probably a chiller? Also ive heard mixed reviews on leds. Do a lot of people use them?

 

[fightmeaboutit]

A 8 bulb fixture with quality bulbs would be plenty of light for sps

 

[fightmeaboutit]

Oh an the colors you can get out of 8+ bulb t5 fixtures are amazing

 

[wendy32693]

Well I have a bunch of geismann bulbs, are those good?

 

[fightmeaboutit]

Geismann,ati,kz,uvl are all very good bulbs

 

[wendy32693]

Well the ones I have right now are actinics, daylights and fiji purples. Are these three colors ok to do or is there other colors I need to mix in if I went with an 8 bulb t5. I might conisder just uprgrading to that, since I dont really know anything about halides or leds.

 

[fightmeaboutit]

It comes down to preference when choosing color combination. A friend I know who has a ati 8bulb fixture runs 3 ati aquablues 3 ati blue+ 1 kz fiji purple an kz new generation. An it has amazing color but it comes down to what you like so just do research on bulb colors.

 

[wendy32693]

Ok, thanks Il probably just go with a 8 bulb t5 then. Im just completely clueless when it comes to halides and leds...id probably end up doing something wrong if I went that route. Lol

 

[gabe_j]

If you ever wanted leds lmk and ill design some thing custom for you. And I do 3d, mock ups of your system

 

[essexreefer2011]

lighting

I'm building a 120g mixed reef tank and I was think about using 3 250w cfl fluorescent 6400k lights and 4 Arcadia Marine Blue T5 Actinic 46" - 1150mm - 54Watts would that work ?

 

[Tangs]

I have a 125 and all I have is 4 4 foot t5's. I have been assured by a reputable marine lighting vender that I have the right type of bulb at the best price. It is good enough for 2 cocera clams. They are not at the bottom but half way up on live rock. no white christmas here Jim

 

[ReeferMike]

Geismann bulbs are my favorite for color and growth

 

[wendy32693]

Well i just found out that my 4 bulb light fixture is not a t5 but it is a power compact...I didnt know the difference and the person that i bought it from a while back assured me these were t5's. I just thought they were a different kind of bulb is all... So is a 4 bulb power compact fixture and a 2 bulb t5 fixture enough or probably not? It'll be a while before i can afford a better light fixture. Not planning on getting any sps yet but just planning ahead. Also is power compact lights not as good as t5's?

 

[fishcraze_1]

Power compacts are not as good as T5's

you can get by on lower light corals, but definitely

not in the same category

sucks that you were sold these lights under the assumption that they were T5

hard to believe someone would do that

next time you have a question and it doesnt get anwsered here

use google

easiest way to get info and pics on just about anything on this planet

 

[wendy32693]

yea, well it was someone on houston fish box they seem to be pretty well known but i wont say any names. Kind of shocked as they seemed like a nice person. Well at the time i bought these lights i barely knew anything about them and had never even heard of power compacts. So i was definitely a easy target... I do have some candy canes in my tank but they are at the top of my rocks and they seem to be doing good thankfully.