light for 20 long with SPS?

[marko]

been out of the hobby for almost a year now, and back then, it was a joint tank, and while i know how to maintain a reef (i did most of the fragging and feeding, and did my share of WCs, dosings, skimmer cleanings, etc.), the equipment is a mystery.
i may convert a 20 long planted into a reef. but im a fan of colorful SPS full of purples and blues and reds. so i need a strong light, probably a MH. what would you recommend?

other equipment im looking into are a skimmer, HOB to turn into a fuge, and i already have a canister filter that i can use for chem filtration and flow, along with 2 light powerheads. also going to look into sumps and auto top offs. i want to develop a budget before i decide if an when to jump back in.

 

[bertyboy69]

I would say you are good with a 4 bulb t5ho i had one and i grew sunset monti on the bottom glass and it grew like a weed , maybe not an acro but if its more than like 3 inches tall it shud be fine , and if you didnt want to have to pay for new bulbs all the time i would go with 3 par 38 bulbs you could get away with 2 but for sps dominatidd i would say get 3 , or even a reefbreeders value led fixture, its such a short tank you dont have to go crazy on lighting

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[marko]

so if i got a 6 bulb i could keep the nicer acros a nice blue color?
something like the aquatic life 36" T5HO with 6 39w bulbs + lunar LEDs? id link to it, but i cant til i get more posts.

 

[bertyboy69]

If you got the 6 bulb 36 inch you woukd have to hang it at least 18 inches off the water or you would bleach everything , i had a 4x24 inch sitting right on top maybe 3 inches from water line and i was able to grow sps everywhere with the lower light sps like montis and birdsnest on the bottom

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[marko]

really? well i may get that fixture, and then just not use 2 of the bulbs. that way, i can increase the lighting if i notice the corals look drab and could handle more light.
if the fixture doesnt work with bulbs removed, ill just wrap the bulbs in aluminum foil - i did that on a planted tank of mine with PC lighting.

 

[Cvaughn1062]

hey from personal experience I managed to bleach some corals with a 4 bulb t5 fixture on a 20 long, my friend is now using the same light on a 29 gallon and we had to move some softies down to the sandbed because they didn't like the intensity when we put brand new bulbs in the fixture. when I had my 20 long I grew some sps and they were quite happy anywhere in the tank, problem was my soft corals were never happy because it was to much. the light I used was the aquatic life t5 4bulb

 

[bertyboy69]

I also had the same problem , ive noticed now in my new tank that my softies are way happier than they were even on the sandbed in my 20 long

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