lighting help needed

Bouzouki · Feb 23, 2009

I have a 70 gallon square tank the is being lit by 4 65 watt pcs. the depth is 18 inches. So total watts is 260. i am thinking of upgrading to t5. I would only be able to use 24 inch bulbs. From what i see that would be 96 watts for 4 bulbs. This seems like less light?

Is it possible to fit 2 t5 bulbs in place of one pc ? If so I guess i could pack 8 24's in there. 192 watts total. But that would be pretty expensive.....

Myteemouse · Feb 23, 2009

they make a 8 bulb 24" T-5 fixture it measures 24x24" would be perfect for your tank!
Prolly around 200 or so.

Bouzouki · Feb 23, 2009

Myteemouse said:
they make a 8 bulb 24" T-5 fixture it measures 24x24" would be perfect for your tank!
Prolly around 200 or so.

forgot to mention
Problem is I have 4 (4 inch wide 32 inch long sections that I am filling) Thus retrofit is a must.

tike · Feb 23, 2009

What type of corals do you want to keep? I think 6 would be plenty as long as you have individual reflectors. Also T-5's blow pc's away in the par level and that is what you should focus on. Watts per gallon means nothing with growing corals.

Bouzouki · Feb 23, 2009

tike666 said:
What type of corals do you want to keep? I think 6 would be plenty as long as you have individual reflectors. Also T-5's blow pc's away in the par level and that is what you should focus on. Watts per gallon means nothing with growing corals.

Well I like softies. Thought about a flower pot but no sps or clams. Have some hammers, and frogspawn, GSP that i really want to grow like crazy over the back wall of tank.

So is a 24 t5 bulb better than a 65 watt pc if both are housed in there own reflector?

http://cgi.ebay.com/4ft-IceCap-T5-4...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

like this one

Bouzouki · Feb 24, 2009

Ok I have decided to go with some t5 ho 24 inchers. I am pretty sure I can use my 4 65 watt ballasts that are running my pc's to run these. Anyone know about this.

My reading indicates that the wattage is the only factor here. That you can even overdrive the t5's but that will shorten the life a bit.

so I could run 2 per ballast.

48 watts on a 64 watts ballast only overdriving them each by 8 watts each.

then i could run 8 bulbs on my ballast i already have.

hope this is not to good to be true.