lighting- watt the?

Now i Know this topic will never have a definative answer but instead of me suffering repetitive strain injury, both physically and mentaly, from searching the net, i want to ask you all for some advise!

having just lost all my livestock (some eight years old ), during a move, i want to restart with a tank devoted to softies and possibly LPS mixed with macro algae.

the tank i have is 48''*15''*18'' with 40kg of live rock (not as live as it used to be!), which is drilled and feeds into a 20 gal sump, set up as a dsb with mirical mud and sugar fine aragonite. the sump also houses a tunze skimmer, and is pumped back to the main tank at a rate of ~10 times an hour.

the only equipment in tank at the moment is a tunze wavebox that is set with the wave at just under an inch, but all the water is moved in the tank (no dead spots whatsoever!). will add more powerheads to add a bit of turbulence......

NOW!

Since in the move i also broke my metal halide bulb and holder, and that i now want less light demanding critters, i want peoples opinions on this!

i will be making a hood that will hold 6 NO tubes(or more), the combination still undecided but will include 6500k 10000k and actinics, plus moonlights of some desciption!

here in the uk the only choice of lighting is mh, no or t5 (pc are t5 over here)

but my thinking is that you need higher outputs to penetrate deeper into the aquraium, and as most of the life i want will be in the upper reaches (ive created overhangs and caves in the live rock towards the base) enough no lighting will suffice.

i would have gone for t5 but as i have an abundance of no starters, i hope this will suffice.

my reasoning is that the tubes to be used are either 6500, 10000k (or an 8000k option) with a CRI of 90+, and i can get 20 bulbs for the price of the MH.

any suggestions will be appreciated!

also any advice on restocking would help.

yours,

levi.

 

Sound good to me. I would have also gone with T5s but if you have the gear to run NOs than why not. I have seen successful NO and LPS tanks. Plus if your tastes change in the future you will not have layed out a ton of cash and therefore an upgrade would not be as painful

J

 

T-5 HO. You will not be dissapointed. You will like the light ouput and the par values. You will be happy.
j/k I really think T5 HO's are the way to go.
Good to hear from you again.

Jim

 

T5's are good for softies and large polyps stonies. If you think you'll consider SPS in the future, I would prepare for MH.

 

Iwasaki 6500 metal halide, considered to be a high par light 150 watts = 199 PAR and 12000 lumens.
Pentron 41 - 54 watt T5 HO, x3 to equal 162 watts = 208.5 PAR and 15000 lumens.

This is a T5 HO bulb not a N.O. T5


Jim

 

despite all the information. I still say hook up your NOs because you have them. You can upgrade later

 

Thanks all! Think i will go for the No's as i only need to punch light down about 8 inches, with only softies, choice LPS and macro, the range of bulbs i can get should suffice - be a while before i get SPS again as it was a real kick in the proverbials when i lost those i had!

Cheers,

Levi.