T5s Q&A

Looks good, I suspect it will have a deep blue look.

 

You will need no more than 4 of the bulbs and may need to hang the fixture so it is 30" above the sand. My suggestion is 2 each ATI Coral Plus and 2 each ATI Blue Plus. Place them alternating with the Coral Plus in front for a lighter look and the a Blue Plus in front for a darker look.

 

I'm thinking if it's too blue, I'll swap for one more purple plus. Or would you go with another coral plus/aquablue special?

 

So 6 will be too much light then

 

Yes. With only 13 inches of tank width (front to back), you shouldn't need more than 4 bulbs.

 

With 10 bulbs, I would definitely use one true daylight bulb. Either a GE 6500k or a Giesemann Midday 6000k. I only have a 4 bulb set up on a 20g and I still use a Giesemann Midday 6000k bulb as one of the four. There are a lot of TOTM setups that use a daylight bulb, so don't be afraid.

 

I'm going to beat this horse one more time. Would it be damaging to any potential corals if I used 6? I'm completely new to this lighting and coral thing.

 

+1 especially with 14 bulbs with only 2 being daylight bulbs. I would also suggest using Coral Pluses instead of Purple Pluses. That should lighten the tank up some. I use half of my bulbs Coral Plus and half Blue Plus and the tank looks good without the glare of white bulbs.

 

Ha, I just got the same basic suggestion on 2 other sites. I'll replace one of the two back to back blue+ with the GE 6500k and see how that looks. I may swap my coral + for aquablue specials to get more green in there and the purple plus for kz figi pinks.

 

Quite possibly. You will definitely be wasting energy and may need a chiller to keep your water temperature under control thereby using even more enrgy and heating up the room the chiller is in. If you go 6 bulbs you would most likely only be able to keep SPS and clams as the rest of the corals will need to be under ledges so they will not bleach. Too much light can cause light inhibition which will slow down growth, possibly adversely affect health and usually cause the corals to expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae causing a loss of color and possibly death if your water does not provide the appropriate nutrients.