30" T5 Fixture

[ErikH]

It definitely wont go 30"

[Razorsharp]

True about the timers. If one goes out then none of the lights will funtion but it sure is worth the risk not dealing with all of the clutter of 2-3 power cords and external timers. I cannot comment on the quality of the timers at this point because I've only had my tank for 3 months. I can say this though, I've not had any issues up to this point. Of all the research I personally did on lights, these fit my budget and I am very pleased with them.

The biggest suprise for me was being able to actually grow SPS's under them! I am not going to be getting any clams for it, but I will continue to keep these SPS's as long as they keep showing signs of growth.

[Rychek]

It definitely wont go 30"

Actually they sell a 30" fixture that uses 24" bulbs, so it would work. The timer issues does concern me a bit though. However, it wouldn't be too hard to replace the timers with switches when they die. Even with my pathetic soldering skillz that would be doable.

[Gseclipse02]

Actually they sell a 30" fixture that uses 24" bulbs, so it would work. The timer issues does concern me a bit though. However, it wouldn't be too hard to replace the timers with switches when they die. Even with my pathetic soldering skillz that would be doable.

thats what i was thinking

with the units i have taken apart they all have a decent amount of room to work with wire wise .... i would just drill the back to have another wire come out and by pass the time timers

[ErikH]

How far are you trying to go with your corals? Without a quality T5 kit, I would go str8 MH with a 20k bulb.

[corkyGramma]

The biggest suprise for me was being able to actually grow SPS's under them! I am not going to be getting any clams for it, but I will continue to keep these SPS's as long as they keep showing signs of growth.

I always wondered if absolutely anything can be kept with T5's. I guess you would need 6 bulbs to house a clam?

[Rychek]

How far are you trying to go with your corals? Without a quality T5 kit, I would go str8 MH with a 20k bulb.

This fixture will be more of a hold over until I get my big tank setup. I don't know how long that will be though (a few months most likely). I have an 8 bulb IceCap retrofit in my current tank that will be going into the new tank, once it's ready, but until then I need something to keep the corals alive until the final big tank is ready.

[Gseclipse02]

I always wondered if absolutely anything can be kept with T5's. I guess you would need 6 bulbs to house a clam?

joe 31 and g-ray both had clams when they had 4 bulb set ups so i would be assuming there ok with a 4- bulb t5 set up

[ballardjr2000]

Im running 4 12k bulbs and 4 acitinic blue (don't do much for added light just appeal) on my 90g, and i have a corceera clam doing great in the tank, lots of growth etc.

[Razorsharp]

I just wanted to post a few shots of this 30" t5 Sundial and show you the growth I was talking about. Don't mind the algae. My tank is about 10 weeks old now.

The birds nest was very small when I got it about 6 weeks ago. The candy cane was just about dead too. Now they're both thriving well.

The pics are not all that great here, but the first picture was taken on 9/14. You can see one of my peices of birds nest on a rock on the back wall. The candy cane is standing closer to the front of the tank.

The pics I took today of the same two shows how much the birds nest has grown in 15 days. It has several new branches starting and the candy cane is pushing out new heads.

Even though they are only 96 watts, putting me at about 3 watts a gallon, I'm getting progress.