Frag Tank Light

I am setting up a frag tank, using a 20 gallon long tank. Looking to use either T5s or LEDs, and wanting to grow SPS, zoas, and a few other softies. I would like to be able to turn the Actinics and Daylights on and off at different times. Light needs to cover an area of 12" wide by 30" long.

Recommendations on a good light that will fit my needs, has good quality, and is durable, would be great. Thank you!

FYI, any high power fluorescent lighting will do just fine, or place the tank in a South or East facing window and watch the thing take off!

What I mean by high power is VHO, PC and T5. The real difference is the size of the lamp. The lamps can be found that have the same colors and grow all coral very well. It's very crowded on the T5 and LED bandwagons.

If your plan is to make money on this frag tank to support your hobby, be smart and do your homework. Compare cost vs benefit. You can find PC lights for a bargain. PC lights work great. A combination of pink-blue and full actinic internal reflector PC lights made by UVLighting and available at reefgeek.com are absolutely awesome. Do you know how valuable the actinic part of the light spectrum is and how the pink or "Actinic White" designation also helps coral grow and makes colors "pop"?

Some day LED's will come down in price enough to actually be cost effective. Let the rest of the hobby spend their money while LED's are perfected and become affordable enough to make money on. Until then I'd continue to use the UVL PC's.

I'd stay away from the white "daylight" color. There is a lot about lighting that can be seen by example. One pink and 1-4 actinic/blue bulbs gives a marvelous pop to the colors and grows coral at their best. Until the T5 manufacturers made it more evident by the colors of tubes offered, most hobbyists didn't realize just how good a tank looks with blue and a little pink. The combination makes all the colors pop out and look vibrant. Because all colors show up it makes viewers think there are white lights.

It's unfortunate, that PC tubes are falling out of favor simply because most of what had been available was the white-blue combination. This combination actually washes out color. It's not the PC light fixture itself. It's the color given off by the tube. The manufacturers of T5 light tubes have perfected the light colors and intensity, but PC lighting using the UVL internal reflector tubes in the pink and blue varieties are just as good as T5's  

I've been at this a long time, but you don't have to take my word for it. You can see it yourself by looking at T5 lighting on other hobbyists tanks, (not at the LFS because you won't be able to ask all the questions nor get un-sales-biased responses). There are many in your neck of the woods. I'd go see Dion in Farmington. He has T5 on his large tank and the right color of PC lights on another tank.



Edited by Mark Peterson - October 16 2011 at 11:53am

1. Whichever fixture you find that you like and that fits best over the tank
2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
3. For a 30x12x12 tank I'd use:
- two 24" 14 W T5's one actinic and one fiji purple placed side by side 3" apart
OR
- two 21" 65 W PC tubes both UVLighting combo Actinic-Super Actinic mounted on opposite ends so they overlap in the middle
5. Lunar lights look really cool at night.

A concurrently running thread about LED's is saying that LED's are almost becoming good enough and the fixtures economical enough to use instead of fluorescent lights, so I need to change my opinion about them.

Thanks all! I will probably get a 4 bulb T5HO AquaticLife Fixture, with lunar lights. However, I am looking into LEDs, since the corals won't be far from the fixture. I went down to Fish4U, and they have Marineland LEDs over a lot of their tanks, and are getting great growth and color from their corals. They actually have a couple anemones under them. I wil probably stick to T5s or PCs though, at least until LEDs are more advanced...just thought I'd mention Fish4U's LED experience.

I have to say that I have not been excited about the Marineland LED's. Fish4U has them over the anemone tank, but they move those anemones fast. I dont remember them over a lot of their tanks???  It would be nice if someone actually had some good experience with it that could say something.

HEY.
This tank is only 12 inches tall. Depending on how they're arranged, some coral will be way close to the surface. It's okay to have coral right at the water surface, but four t5's could even burn the coral sitting on the bottom unless the fixture is like 8" above the water.

I have an aquaticlife fixture on my 10g nano and also on my 72g bowfront. I really like the built in timer and moonlights.. Less cords, looks nicer, etc.

On my nano, I have just one of the 10k bulbs in.. The corals were unhappy with that much light. Unfortunately, I bought the 20" unit and different bulbs are hard to come by, or I would have swapped out the originals.

Old pic, but you get the idea..



On my 72, the two actinics burnt out within a month. I swapped them out with 4 ati bulbs.. purple plus, blue plus, aquablue, and one more blue plus.

Lunars are not important to me. I was just. Amit sure nothing in the tank would really benefit from them somehow. Thanks all for your help! So everyone's votes for bulbs are mainly for ati bulbs?