T8 Lighting?

[craig855s]

Been playing with the idea of going saltwater with my rio 400, It has the juwel T8 highlite hood, and im wondering if i can get a 10k bulb, and a 50/50 blue/white bulb for it, and putting some live rock in there and having leather coral and some other types...

are there any corals that could live with such light levels?

 

[seffieuk]

There is indeed, many softies also non photosynthesising corals like Sun corals. My sister successfully keeps some softies and a Euphyllia under t8s - however she does have four. So, go with the softies and you should be fine - however do your research as not all softies will tolerate the low light. You could also think about either adding another I bar or adding an extra ballest

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

As my dear sister has said I have T8's 2 white and 2 blue, I have a euphylia which sits at the top, zoas, green star polyps, ricodeas and mushrooms, all of which are doing fine

 

[Dinky Stig]

Been playing with the idea of going saltwater with my rio 400, It has the juwel T8 highlite hood, and im wondering if i can get a 10k bulb, and a 50/50 blue/white bulb for it, and putting some live rock in there and having leather coral and some other types...

are there any corals that could live with such light levels?

You say it's a 'highlite' unit? that would indicate to me that the tubes are in-fact T5's, with added reflectors you'd be fine for most softies.

Look at the tubes, are they 5/8ths of an inch in diameter or an inch?

 

[seffieuk]

You say it's a 'highlite' unit? that would indicate to me that the tubes are in-fact T5's, with added reflectors you'd be fine for most softies.

Hi-light are the juwel tubes

 

[Pearsondesign]

ive been running t8s on my rio 180 with kenya trees, leathers, finger leathers, polyps, pulse xenia and other zenis for over 4 months now, they are growing and spreading a lot!

 

[crazysilverwolf]

I have two t8's in my fluval but i am trying to redesign my hood to fit two more. was also wondering if that would be enough for most corals?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yes you can keep a lot of soft corals under T8 lighting if you have a couple of tubes. Mushrooms, leathers, zoas and the like will do ok (though you wont see as much growth as under T5's).

I would also recommend replacing the T8 tubes with T6 tubes. These are a direct replacement for T8 tubes (so don't need to change anything else) but have a lot better light output. Ideally I would recommend replacing the T8 set ups completely with either power compacts or T5's. Usually you can fit a couple of Power compact tubes in most hood setups alongside the current T8's.

 

[Pearsondesign]

also, just to add to my post
im running 2 T8 marine whites and 2 T8 marine blues.