Dave's 58g with T5 lighting.

[David Grigor]

Still playing with the W/B on the camera. Pics still look bluer than in person.

58g Oceanic Reef Ready with Ocean Stand and Canopy in light oak finish.
Tank has been up since Fall 2004. Barebottom.

Lighting:
4X36" T5 ATI Aquablues on Icecap 660 ballast
2X36" VHO URI SuperActinics on Icecap 430 ballast.
Total wattage as measure by a watt meter was measure at 365w. 255w of it is the T5 bulbs.

Skimmer:
Euroreef CS8-2.

Parameters:
Daily Temp range 78.2-79.5
Salinity 1.024
CA 450+
Mg 1350+
Alk <8 Dkh

Parameters are maintained by 5g water changes twice weekly with 2tbs of CA Reef Advantage and 2tbs of Seachem Magnesium added to freshly mixed SW using Instant Ocean. Detritus is blown out from under the rocks and siphoned during each water change. All top-off is Kalk dosed via litermeterIII dosing pump at 3-4.5liters per day depending on the season.

Lights, Heater, Fans, powerheads all controlled by DA Reefkeeper controller.
Return Pump is hooked to Triplite 512 UPS with 2 Marine batteries that can run up to 48hours on battery-backup.

[David Grigor]

All SPS/Acropora are located in the top 1/3 of the tank.

[David Grigor]

Alveopora that came from Jenn's tank when she sold off here 125. This is 1 of 3 frags I made from it. It's only about 2-3" when fully expanded.

[David Grigor]

Red Scolymia purchased from Har Mar pets last summer.

[David Grigor]

Elegance I got from Blackdog over a year ago. It's a show sized piece and probably the main reason why when I downsized from the 320g that I kept a tank running.

[Skipponator]

Wow those are pretty nice. I'd love to have something that looks that clear and pretty. Why am I doing MH if T-5 can do the job? I imagine you have little heat generated from the T-5s?

[David Grigor]

Purple Tort came from Stan ( Energy ) in a trade. In Stan's tank was under 250W MH and has maintained color almost exactly the same as was introduced about 5-6 weeks ago. While it could still change color, one would expect to have shown signs up browning etc. by now. Time will tell but am very optimistic at this point......

[redwinger]

Looks great david. How do you like the reefkeeper?

[clownfishcrazy]

The aquascaping looks good Dave.

[David Grigor]

Pink Acropora came from Dennis. Only had it about 4 weeks. It was originally under 250W DE 14K Phoenix bulb I believe. When I got it from Dennis it was very dark pink in color. Under the T5s is has lightened up considerably but still pink and tips have started to turn blue. Still early and may not have stabalized in color and may undergo further color changes. Overall very pleased....


The purple tipped coral in the bottom right came from Stan in a trade about 5 weeks ago. Was originally in his 250W MH tank. Hasn't gone through any color changes. It has started virtually the same as when I got it.

[David Grigor]

This one grew from just a small base left on LR when I sold the colony to Derek back in the fall. It was under just VHO for a while and turned very dark drab in color but since being under T5 for about 3 months has colored back up very similiar to what it was located under 400W 20K Radiums in bottom half of the big tank. Has green,blue, and purple colors.

The main colony that Derek now has under 400W it very bright distinct purple tips. I think Derek calls it a purple crayon in his tank.....

[David Grigor]

Heres a side shot to better show the slope on the right side of the tank.....Straight on camera shots can't really see the 3D effect....

[David Grigor]

While this shot overall looks way too yellow when I was adjusting the W/B on the camera. However it's isn't a bad closeup picture and the colors of the actual coral are pretty close.

I got this cheap at SF because it had turned brown with just the very tips having any color. It's been 4-5 weeks and the purple is much more predominant and what was brown has lightened up considerably and turning more and more green as time goes by. I think it still will take longer to see what the final result will be but has been a huge improvement since I first got it.

Dennis with 250W DE 14k PHoenix bulb and Chuck with 400W 10K XM has 1/3 pieces of this coral so over time it will be interesting to see how it looks in the different environments.

[David Grigor]

I still have a couple of pieces I want to get for testing under the T5s. A teal colored stag from Graham, and yellow porities frag from Greg.

So far it has far exceeded expectations. While for a dominant SPS tank your still better off with 250W or higher MH but for more of a community tank with some acropora T5 should be a very decent alternative. I will point out I have never seen what T5s look like when lit by something other than a Icecap which does run the 39W rated bulb at 62w as measured by my watt meter. Overall wattage I am putting through them is basically the same amount of electricity as a single 250W MH would so really there isn't any energy savings by running the T5s.

T5s definately run hotter than VHOs do but still IMO more manageable with heat than MH is.....

[souk]

David, after looking at your tank. makes me want to set mine up again.