Anyone have a spare T5?

[Quartapound]

Hi guys,

I'm workin on getting a 40 gallon saltwater tank going (it's been running about 7 weeks now) and have a DIY kit for cree LED's on the way. (I just ordered the kit from rapidled)

I picked up some liverock for a very good price, but with the cheap freshwater flourescent I have over it, it's starting to grow  hair algae and cyano.

I'm curious if anyone is willing to let me borrow a T5 fixture or MH if they have any spare ones laying around, for a few weeks until I can get the LED's wired up and hung over my tank...

I have a good quality skimmer, sump, media reactor with carbon (GFO is on the way)....

the only thing that I havent corrected is my lighting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, if someone has a spare fixture laying around that they could do without for 2 weeks, please let me know!

Thanks in advance!

 

[crazybizzle]

if your still workin on it and ur still cycling, dont worry about getting a t5 or mh on it, take the dumb flouresent light off, and ur algae will be gone.  im guessing u dont have any fish or corals in the tank or u would have a proper light already.  other than that if u already ordered your leds should be here in a couple of days so i wouldnt worry.

 

[Quartapound]

some of the liverock I picked up for a very VERY low price, from a reefer in Kitchener, with an established tank.  it came with some kenya trees, gsp, mushroom, zoa...

I know my tank is too new to be buying these things, I was buying the rock to be honest.


when I took it home I started to discover how much life is on it (besides coralline)

... if it was just "fresh" liverock  I wouldn't have really minded waiting (leaving it in the dark)

 

[crazybizzle]

i wouldnt worry to much about die off from using the flouresent if u leave the light off for a couple of days the corals u have should still be alive and algae should die off a bunch.  if u are worried for now just put in a t8 saltwater bulb in ur fixture from petsmart that will help other than that check kijii theres usually small t5 fixtures for a 40 gal for cheap at least under 50 bucks or ask a lfs to borrow one if u give them a security deposit in good faith hope thus helps

 

[Krazykarl]

Lower maintenance soft corals will usually live under reg t8 bulbs. Depending on te depth of the tank. It doesn't matter what kind of light you run u are going to get hair algae especially with a new tank. As your nutrient levels rise ie: no3 po4, u will experience a variety of nuisance algae. Ride it out and welcome to the hobby

 

[Gietz]

Something similar happened to me.  Two weeks into my cycle my used light crapped out on me!! So I didn't run any bulbs until I started putting fish in. I went to the LFS and just got a T8 bulb for saltwater and I'm still running it a month later lol ( just putting the finishing touches on my DIY fixture). I never got any Algee or anything and everything survived. Do what the crazzy pair say, get a light from the LFS