Growing Acropora under T-5's

[Shaemus]

I have seen on the forums a person who grew many sps coral with just T-5's i was wondering how many would you need for a tank that is 3 feet long, 2 feet tall and 18 inches wide (upgraded from 54 to 65 not much difference but oh well) I was thinking 6 ...

Sincerely,

Shaemus

 

[cindre2000]

6 is the most you can properly fit onto that size tank if you go with full parabolic reflectors. But yeah, that sounds like a good start if you want your acro's growing under rocks. You can further increase their output by using an Icecap ballast- this will run them closer to VHO at 80ish watts apiece.

You just need to be a little careful with the all in one units- a lot do not have the individual reflectors, which cuts back on the total output; and those units don't have Icecap ballasts to make up for it. So you are usually better off retrofitting.