Differences between LPS and SPS

wait, the corals listed above would work with my current lighting set up?

 

Would a 4 bulb set up work to grow corals?

 

A four bulb t5 HO with quality bulbs could grow anything.

 

Awesome! I can definitely do that. A lot cheaper than leds!

 

i wouldnt say anything, but im changing my views to them being able to grow a few sps. but still alot of sps are out of their reach. also some clams and anemones most likely.

 

It all depends on placement.

 

well of course!

 

There is a lot of finer details in lighting...

Better to look at what each bulb offers as far as spectrums, intensity, PAR, etc...

If you put two 10,000K T5's in your 2 bulb setup, you would have 90+% the growing potential of two 10,000k T5's in a (50/50) 4 bulb t5 setup...

You CAN add different types of lights (t5's w/ Power Compact / LED's etc) as long as you know what each 'light' provides (in terms of spectrums intensity, PAR)


I use 2 bulb 10,000k T5 110 watt + 2 bulb Actinic Power Compact 65 watts... And I grow all these just fine...

Kenya tree
Xenia
Ricordia
Favites
Duncans
Trumpets
Frogspawns
neon green Polyps
Blasto
Green Star Polyp
Pearl Bubble
Purple/Green/Brown Mushrooms





Lighting notes...

Metal Halides provide more full spectrum of light offered, but are expensive/ too intense (think coral bleaching) to many tanks...

LED's offer amazing potential, but it is completely dependent upon the 'filter' or 'lens' or plastic cover over the light itself.... it limits what spectrum's are actually emitted from the LED light... IE One LED light might be amazing, another might be pure $hit.

T5's are good all around, but are not space efficient, and their bulbs must be changed every 8 months or so, and depending on the setup might not acheive the look you want. For Example, my 2 bulb 10,000k setup grows corals fine, but it has no Actinic light to make those corals 'glow'.... (I supplement an extra light for that... but not as efficient as all in 1 system)...

Power Compacts... are basically just T5's with a smaller size for higher wattage rate.






Spectrums of light needed you should look into as well... You don't need Actinic light if you have 10,000k bulbs as the 10,000 gives off enough of the 'actinic' spectrum on it's own...

But understanding that the Actinic light alone prompts the coral to begin photosynthesis and adding additional Actinic in the morning/night will prompt the coral and allow it to utilize that same 10,000k bulb even more....



Lots of lighting setups may achieve what you need.

Point is there are too many intricacies to each light and what it offers (relative to coral photosynthesis ((which is different than above water 'green plant' photosynthesis) that it is difficult to speak in generalities with much assurance.