Hey all here's an update for anyone looking to purchase lights.

[D12monkey]

The actinics will provide quite a bit of extra blue.

[FragOutpost]

Great that is just what I need to balance out my 10K halides.
I'll let you know if I'm able to find them locally.

[marami]

Hello Guys... first of all I want to introduce myself... My name is Marco and I'm a new reefie guy from Mexico City and I was reading your post about th T5 Nova lights... I just got myself a couple of this... one 10000K and another actinic blue because I only wanted to make a FOWLR tank... but lately I'm begining to think about getting some softy corals, I have tried to search in the Internet what kind of corals I'll be able to mantain with this lighting setup (obviously I'm getting 2 more 10000K and one actinic), 3 10000K and 2 Actinics, and I tought maybe you can help me. The tank size is 39x16x19

Thanks and greetings.
Marco.

[D12monkey]

First off welcome.

What do you think of the lights? Aren't they bright... I've seen all leathers, acans, mushrooms, zoos, and a few other softies under this light. They are comprable to VHOs and PCs. SO pretty much any softy that can be kept in either will do fine with these.

[marami]

Thanks for your welcome... YES!! they are really bright... I can't compare them vs VHO because I don't own one of those... but I can't stare directly at them... it hurts my eyes!! I have just finished the cycling of my thank... and now I'm goign to shot for a couple of Clown Fishes... but what do you mean by Soft corals?? LPS and SPS can't be mantained with this light???

Thanks for you answer!!

[FragOutpost]

Welcome to Frag Outpost marami!

Most soft corals are able to adapt to almost any level of light, particularly lower light levels and still sustain good growth. I have seen nice SPS tanks lit only by T5's, but these tanks are usually a little on the shallow side and the canopy is packed full of T5's. One good aspect about T5's is that they are a smaller diameter bulb which allows for more bulbs to be able to fit above your tank. I would think that you should be able to sustain SPS corals in your tank with these bulbs, but I would keep the corals as close to the light source as you can.

Good luck with your tank, marami. Please post some photos sometime.

[marami]

Thanks for the reply FragOutpost, in fact the reasons I don't want to use the MH are 2:

1. The generate a lot more heat than th T5
2. They look horrible!!

Thanks for the input and I'll be posting some pics later... In what part can I do this???

Thanks!!