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yahtayfam · 07/04/2017, 10:23 AM

I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for a long time but I have just made the switch to saltwater recently. I've done a TON of research about what I want to keep and I have decided that I MUST ABSOLUTELY have one of these beautiful tanks that I see in this forum. My goal is a SPS dominate mixed tank with lots of snails. I am not THAT interested in any fish TBH (I kept high(er) tech planted tanks and focused mostly on inverts and plants). I have a lot of questions that have been building up so I apologize in advanced for the long-winded post.

I have converted one of my 20 gallon longs into a saltwater QT tank that has just recently finished cycling. I also have an empty refurbished 75 gallon tank that had already been drilled in the bottom with an overflow attached. It came with a 30 gallon sump (which I will be remaking so look forward to another long post). After about a months worth of research, I am almost done acquiring the equipment to start cycling my 75 gallon display tank, but I have one HUGE component that I have not figured out yet: lighting.

I had planned on getting two Chinese black box LEDs and supplementing them with two to four 4' HO T5 bulbs. I want there to be enough lighting so that I can add any coral I want.

The dilemma is, after so much research, there is a lot of conflicting views on LED vs T5 vs MH or a combo of sorts. Now, I am unsure that my setup will be what I am looking for. I certainly don't want to use MH-- chillers, energy consumption and thermal output are too many factors for me to handle right now. Traditionally I have used ALL T5 HO, both for my hydroponics set up and the old FW setups I used to have. My concern with this is that I do not want to replace SO MANY T5 bulbs and was wanting to switch over to LEDs.

Do you more experienced reefers out there have any insights on my setup? I am really leaning towards these black box LED's after reading so many positive things about them, but am concerned about spectrum mixing, shadowing, and point light source which I think could be solved with a couple T5's. Please let me know if you think this would be adequate to keep an all acro tank happy if I so chose (assuming all other params are good) and how many T5s and where should they be placed? Should I do away with the LEDs and go for an all T5 setup? If so, how many T5s for a 48"x~18.5"x21" tank? I am not sold on an ALL LED setup BTW because IMO the cons are far too detrimental to be ignored and I am not willing to dish out the big bucks for the nicer LEDs because I am certain the technology will definitely progress and I'd rather save my money for the next big thing.

Thanks for reading this far and your insights are greatly appreciated!

07/04/2017, 10:23 AM	#1
yahtayfam Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 4	New to SW! Need advice on lighting! I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for a long time but I have just made the switch to saltwater recently. I've done a TON of research about what I want to keep and I have decided that I MUST ABSOLUTELY have one of these beautiful tanks that I see in this forum. My goal is a SPS dominate mixed tank with lots of snails. I am not THAT interested in any fish TBH (I kept high(er) tech planted tanks and focused mostly on inverts and plants). I have a lot of questions that have been building up so I apologize in advanced for the long-winded post. I have converted one of my 20 gallon longs into a saltwater QT tank that has just recently finished cycling. I also have an empty refurbished 75 gallon tank that had already been drilled in the bottom with an overflow attached. It came with a 30 gallon sump (which I will be remaking so look forward to another long post). After about a months worth of research, I am almost done acquiring the equipment to start cycling my 75 gallon display tank, but I have one HUGE component that I have not figured out yet: lighting. I had planned on getting two Chinese black box LEDs and supplementing them with two to four 4' HO T5 bulbs. I want there to be enough lighting so that I can add any coral I want. The dilemma is, after so much research, there is a lot of conflicting views on LED vs T5 vs MH or a combo of sorts. Now, I am unsure that my setup will be what I am looking for. I certainly don't want to use MH-- chillers, energy consumption and thermal output are too many factors for me to handle right now. Traditionally I have used ALL T5 HO, both for my hydroponics set up and the old FW setups I used to have. My concern with this is that I do not want to replace SO MANY T5 bulbs and was wanting to switch over to LEDs. Do you more experienced reefers out there have any insights on my setup? I am really leaning towards these black box LED's after reading so many positive things about them, but am concerned about spectrum mixing, shadowing, and point light source which I think could be solved with a couple T5's. Please let me know if you think this would be adequate to keep an all acro tank happy if I so chose (assuming all other params are good) and how many T5s and where should they be placed? Should I do away with the LEDs and go for an all T5 setup? If so, how many T5s for a 48"x~18.5"x21" tank? I am not sold on an ALL LED setup BTW because IMO the cons are far too detrimental to be ignored and I am not willing to dish out the big bucks for the nicer LEDs because I am certain the technology will definitely progress and I'd rather save my money for the next big thing. Thanks for reading this far and your insights are greatly appreciated!