Ditch the T5s unit and add some MH?

[chris88]

6 bulbs would be better and i think your bulbs could be replaced for bulbs with higher par.

[mr.wilson]

Wait another six months for a decent mass produced LED to come on the market.

[Slick Fork]

Individual reflectors on the T5's?

4 bulbs on a 33 gallon should give you lots of penetration IF they have individual reflectors... How high above the tank is the fixture? Glass shield? If so, how clean is it?

[martinmcnally]

Its 75gallons, individual reflectors no glass. The reflectors could use another clean i think, cleaned about 2 months ago but the salt is wearing them down.

Light is about 4 inches above the water (as low as the legs will go).

[chris88]

I would go mh at that depth or add two more t5's

[martinmcnally]

Thanks for all the advice guys. As for parameters I posted those a further back in the post. Nitrates are my only problem I think currently at 5. Temp is around 26/27 oC and Salinity 1.0025

I have been battling red slime agile now too for way to long and its starting to **** me right off.

When I got these new set of bulbs I noticed the tank was a little duller, despite being told this would be better than my last setup :/

Anyways I guess based on all this I should get another 2 bulbs plumbed in somehow add 2 more hight output bulbs and consider changing out the new ones for something better if the two extra don't make a significant difference.

[the marine apprentice]

hey martin. id stick with the t5 set up or maybe upgrade to a six bulb. im running t5s on my nano and will never go back to mh on it. i also have a 250 watt mh setup on the hex tank which is 24 deep and it works well also. but i just hate the heat that it puts off. get a good selection of bulbs in there and i am sure your sps will be growing soon enough. mine dont grow as fast as id like them to but i am happy with the way they look and the way they are growing.

[Slick Fork]

Right, don't know why 33 was stuck in my head I'd second the call for another 2 bulbs in T5.

I had a full T5 setup on my 110 (8 bulb) and ended up swapping out 4 of the bulbs for 2 175 watt MH's. For me, I got decent results with both. I just preferred MH for the shimmer. Plus my tank was in the basement so I had no worries about heat.

Not sure what to tell you about why your corals aren't growing. Your light setup seems ok. Individual reflectors, close to the water... that all seems fine. Two bulbs will give you extra spread from front to back but won't necessarily add more light to corals in the middle for example. If the lamp is functioning correctly then I would guess the problem lies elsewhere.

[Red Coral Aquariums]

Before you change to MH consider some decent T5 bulbs. KZ or ATI or Geisemann. Wave points are a lower end bulb and you and your corals would see a difference.
Kevin

[bauder1986]

hey martin, maybe switch out the actinics for a giesman aquablue+ for a higher PAR rating, and maybe retrofit 2 more t5's into the whole deal with either 14000K's or a aquablue+ and a 14000K or maybe a fiji and a 14000k but careful with those fiji's, if your phosphates are there and your healthy bacteria culture is abit premature you may get red slime algea due to the red spectrum coverage of the fiji's