T5 vs PC

[cabezon2469]

here is what I have:

2-2X24 watt 24" T5 fixtures
one 36" 2X96watt PC fixture

One of the T5 fixtures is on my FW tank with 6700K FW gro lights.

The tank is a 70 gal; It is 48" long 20" tall and 18" wide. the T5 on the SW tank now has two actinic bulbs that are on for about 12 hours a day (one bulb recently burned out). the PC has one actinic bulb and one 10K daylight bulb. two switches one cord (I may have to DIY another cord). I put the PC on a daylight cycle of about 6 hours. I manually turn on and off the white light.

the Xenia, GSP, red and blue mushrooms are all happy. I have a cap coral that I do not see any change in, and a couple others that i do not know the name of that are just OK as well.

seeing as I am unemployed there will be no major light purchase in my future, I am looking to maximize what I have.

Would it be worth it to move the other T5 fixture to the SW tank? Better to get actinic or White bulbs for it? previous owner had one of each in both lights, and I got the PC later (on the cheap). I can't afford another PC bulb right now. If you can understand what I'm asking, thanks.

[zachfishman]

If everything's happy right now I'd hold off. Adding more light to the system certainly wouldn't hurt, but maybe wait until you find new employment and can pick up some new frags that can take advantage of the increased light?

How are your hoods positioned on the tank now? Is the 36" PC fixture centered, or off on one side with the 24" T5 overlapping it on the opposite end? If you decide to add the other T5 hood in the future, I'd place them on one side of the tank with just enough space to squeeze one end of the PC fixture in-between (the PC fixture slid all the way to the other end of the system). You'd wind up with 12" of overlap between the fixtures offset from the middle of your tank, which would give you a nice place to keep more light demanding corals.