# Lighting



## omarshabaz (Mar 23, 2010)

Hey Everone. it has come time to change bulbs and I currently have a 4x54 watt t5ho, I bought this when I didnt know any better so I decided to use it, but it is only about 3 watts per gallon although the tank growth is allright. I plan to upgrade in the future but use it for now. There is also only one switch so no seperate for daylight and actins. I plan on buying some seperate actinics in the furute as well but for now I am just using this. 

My question is what combination of bulbs do I go with to possibly get some more light in the tank and still have it look nice.


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

omarshabaz said:


> Hey Everone. it has come time to change bulbs and I currently have a 4x54 watt t5ho, I bought this when I didnt know any better so I decided to use it, but it is only about 3 watts per gallon although the tank growth is allright. I plan to upgrade in the future but use it for now. There is also only one switch so no seperate for daylight and actins. I plan on buying some seperate actinics in the furute as well but for now I am just using this.
> 
> My question is what combination of bulbs do I go with to possibly get some more light in the tank and still have it look nice.


What type of coral do you have in the tank right now, and what do you plan on keeping in the long term? Coralife(I think it's coralife but don't hold me to that, I may have the brand wrong) has a 18k 54watt t5 bulb that gives the tank a nice blue. You can do 2 of those and 2 10k this way you will have color in the 18k's and growth from the 10k's. This is if you keep mostly soft coral and maybe a few LPS'. What size is the tank with 54watts 72, 75 or 90? The down side is this won't work for SPS' at 3watts per gal.


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## omarshabaz (Mar 23, 2010)

Hey, its a 75 Gallon. Right now there are a few softies and I will only keep softies until I upgrade the lighting as I understand the limits of the current setup. Just trying to get the best bulb configuration for the short term. 

thanks


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

omarshabaz said:


> Hey, its a 75 Gallon. Right now there are a few softies and I will only keep softies until I upgrade the lighting as I understand the limits of the current setup. Just trying to get the best bulb configuration for the short term.
> 
> thanks


Your more then welcome and this will give you just that.


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## omarshabaz (Mar 23, 2010)

trouble93 said:


> Your more then welcome and this will give you just that.


Im in ottawa is there a good local place to buy bulbs..Or somewhere in canada to ship from..

Thanks,


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

omarshabaz said:


> Im in ottawa is there a good local place to buy bulbs..Or somewhere in canada to ship from..
> 
> Thanks,


Now that I'm not sure of. You can check with your LFS to see if they will order them for you. Or check with a saltwater warehouse it's not a hard bulb to get.


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## archer772 (Nov 8, 2008)

Dont sell T-5's short because with qaulity reflectors and bulbs you could keep most anything you might want Softies, LPS's, Clams and SPS's, you should check out this link

home (tfivetesting)


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