Lighting Question..

[a7xsynx42]

Hi. I have a 50gal aquarium that I wanna do a reef set up on (corals, live rock, fish, etc.) and I was wondering if this lighting would be good enough for a tank that 18" deep. The basics are two HO 54w bulbs 108w total. The bulbs are a 12000k premium daylight and a true Actinic. Does that sound good or do I need more wattage? Any advice would be great!

PS metal halide is out of the question at this point in time!

 

[ben1987]

I would say thats not going to be enough for many of the corals out there. You may get away with softies like xenia and leathers. Best ay to gage it would be try a couple of easy frags and see how they do. May also be good to look at having two white bulbs if you dont mind the look of that

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, T5's are on the right track there, but 2 tubes is a little too few. Try and stick with 4

 

[a7xsynx42]

yeah i found a system for under a $100 with 4 54watt bulbs (2 12000k and 2 true actinic) and a fan so i'm gonna go with that one

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Sounds good. I run with 4 T5 54w tubes on my tank (not quite as deep as yours). The soft corals are growing stupidly fast and the LPS I have are also doing really well (even at the bottom of the tank).

 

[ben1987]

It really could do with hving individual reflectors btw

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, without individual reflectors, the unit will be no better than its poorly performing PC-cousins