is my lighting sufficient?

[samuel88]

i have a 5 gallon tank, 8 inches tall, 1.5 feet in length. currently i'm using aquazonic T5 lighting, 1x16 watts super sun, and 1x16 watts actinic bulb. if i wish to keep SPSes is this amount of lighting sufficient? if i should upgrade please give me some suggestions. thanks.

[tunicate]

SPS has much more stringent requirement on water quality compared to LPS & FOWLR. Lighting is only part of the equation. Coming back to your question, your 5 gal (i.e. 18"x8"x8") tank is of unusual dimension. The problem here is you can hardly find quality T5 tubes at 1.5 feet size. If you want to stay with this tank, the likely choice would be to go for LED lighting.

[Slimymadness]

bro from ur tank thread..i believe your tank is not ready for sps..no point throwing money down the drain just like that..

like bro tunicate mentions, water parameters plays a major part in sps husbandary. not just lighting alone..do you know your ca, mg, sr, kh, ph, temp levels? most of the bros who are sps keepers keen a keen eye on water parameters.

protein skimmer helps to keep a good water quality unless one can do water changes regularly, HOB does not quite cut it...water must be clean for sps.

and for such a small tank like yours, very hard to control water parameters.

like you, i want to start SPS too, but i find myself flipping through my chemistry text book checking if NaHO3 precipitates CACl2 and what is a desirable result i want to achieve. i check water perimeters every 3 days, dose once a week. if i can keep my water perimeter up to par, then i will start learning about the SPS for beginners. but time is not ready...

start slow, enjoy the learning process, enjoy the friendship and live a gd life!

[Zoa guy]

there arent many options for a t5 tube that length so i agree that u should go for something like leds...maybe par 38...

as for water quality, from your post and pics, i think u should take out the lava rocks(i find lava rock quite useless) and replace it with something like biohome or seachem matrix. I think you should get a better skimmer or get a more powerful air pump...i keep sps with no prob under compact flourescents...