Good Plan Or Bad Plan?

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jkrekord

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Hi.
Straight to the point, i plan on settin up a 4' x 2' x 2' reef tank later this year. I would like to keep at least 1 Crocea Clam, possible a T. Maxima Clam as a centrepiece. Now i know these require a lot of light, my problem is that metal halides are not an option for me. I have my mind set on 54 watt Deltech Razor T5's, these come with 2 bulbs 1 white 1 blue, so that gives 108 watts per razor, i would definatly have at least 2 of these meaning 216 watts. However i would rather have 3 of the razors meaning 324 watts of lighting. whilst it would be possible for me to have 4 razors i really dont want to have to have that many.
So would 324 watts of T5 lighting be sufficient for what i want? And maybe things such as Acropora?
Cheers, James
 
i think the problem you will face will be how far the t5's penetrate the water.

If i were you i would go with a halide/t5 lamp. 250w should penetrate to 2ft i think, correct me if i'm wrong guys.

maybe a 2 x 250 watt halide luminaire with actinic t5's. this would also increase your potential for coral selection.

why aren't halides an option?
 
Wow that's an awesome retrofit fixture. Individual reflected high output T5's in a small footprint? Sweet. To answer your question, yes a 6xT5 setup like that with individual reflectors will certainly provide enough light for Tridacnid species and for Acropora. 4 would probably be too few, but 6 is just about right. My local club has done a lot of comparisons between 2x250watt halide setups and 6x54watt T5's over that exact tank dimension and the T5's are easily on-par with the halides, if not better, even at penetrating to depth.

Do remember, with lighting taken care of, flowrate is equally important in keeping SPS. You need lots of it :)
 
Thanks for that Ski, the main pump would be a Tunze with the wavemaker, cant remember which size id decided on. I would be suplementing this with a small Tetra pump which is rated for like 1000 litres, not so sure about that, what would you reccomend?
 
How much are you looking to spend on the Tunze? Might just be worth it to get a Tunze wavebox and something like a hydor koralia for extra flow
 
Im not sure cant remember now, i will check which one i was lookin at gettin an then look at the price tomorrow. Also, i've read i need to keep calcium levels above 400 ppm, what would be the best way to that?
 
IMO the best way to maintain calcium/alkalinity (have to maintain both) is a combination of dripping kalkwasser and dosing suppliments when kalkwasser falls short (and it will with tridacnid clams in the mix)
 

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