T-5's on an Aquapod

[lamajo25]

Has anyone changed from the power compact that are in the Nano Cubes and Aquapod's to T-5 lighting? If so do you have any advise? Or do you have any ideas?

[lReef lKeeper]

do they even make T5's that small yet ?? if they do i may look into some for my 29g tanks. i think the shortest thay make right now is 24" or 36".

[lamajo25]

I know the Aquapod is 20" across the top. It's not looking good. Angie and I got to talking this morning and we were thinking about T-5's because I really want to do an anemone. But we are thinking that there may not be enough lighting with jus thte PC lights that are built in. If anyone has heard about someone doing this I would be greatly appreciative. My only other option is MH lighting. Don't quite have the $$$ for that.

[lReef lKeeper]

the smallest VHO or T5 i can find in F&S magazines is 24". on a small tank like this PC's would probably be fine.BTW ... i have an anemone and pink skunk clown fish under 1 powerglo strip light, in a 29gal tank and both seem to be happy and growing. absolutely no bad affects from lack of lighting.

[dakar]

Another option might be what is been named a 96w Quad PC, they are roughly 18" long x 4" wide. Worked great over a 20" wide 10g tank.

[iVgOnMaD]

I have used the Compact Fluorescent lights that they sell at builder supply stores like Home Depot. They look like a tube that got twisted into an icecream cone shape. Many different spectrums to pick from, usually in the ranges of 2000k - 6500k (I use 4x27w 6500k and 2x40w 3000k).You can cram up to 12 of these suckers in 30inx12in hood and still have space for some tubes in there. The best part about these is that they are self ballasted and all you have to do is add as many sockets as you need to the hood.

I was told that intensity is far more important than the actual spectrum so there is not an ABSOLUTE need to provide the 10,000k, 15,000k or 20,000k lights. You are probably better off cramming as many of the 6500k C.F. lights into your hood to get a super-intense ammount of light in there. You could also add a couple of the 2750k bulbs to widen your spectrum.

It works for me.

[dakar]

I was told that intensity is far more important than the actual spectrum so there is not an ABSOLUTE need to provide the 10,000k, 15,000k or 20,000k lights. You are probably better off cramming as many of the 6500k C.F. lights into your hood to get a super-intense ammount of light in there. You could also add a couple of the 2750k bulbs to widen your spectrum.

It works for me.

Might I ask who told you as such? I feel the need to interject here and clarify things a little... Intensity is important, but mostly for the effect of getting the light to your animals. A rule of thumb is that most lights loose 50% of it's intesity at 19" of salt water. Color temp's are more critical than your post suggests. That doesn't mean that things will NOT work for you, but they may not work for others. Some have had great success with using Mercury Vapor lamps rated as low as 4000K, others are only able to grow algae with them. There has been a lot of research and discussion about this matter here, but it's always open for more discussion!

[lamajo25]

Okay, I guess this may be a beaten horse question but I have to know. Every time I've seen a light spectrum graph, they say that 5000K is daylight at noon. The daylight light of my Aquapod is 6500K and if I recall correctly the Actinic light is 10000K but don't quote me on that portion. Now why do is it necessary to have a 10000K to 20000K light if you also utilize actinic lighting? I've noticed that most of the actinic's are somewhere around 10000K. This question arrizes because you can get the ballasted screwin flourescent lights at anywhere from 4000K to 6500K. Check www.1000bulbs.com . I looked because this was possibly a way I was going to go just utilized the 48" light fixture to put two actinic lights as on top of about 4 85 watt screw ins. They have up to 150w but I didn't think that I needed one that big since their light output is higher than that of their actual wattage.

[iVgOnMaD]

Good point.

[dakar]

Natural seawater filters out the lower wavelengths to a point that once it passes 15 meters or so the result is very little of the red end of the spectrum making penetrating and the results are more of the higher wavelengths reaching the animals which we covet so closely. We've got a number of rather lengthy discussions on this topic compelte with charts and stuff, burined in the database somewhere... I'll dig up a link to the thread for those wanting to read and post it here.