Lighting

[hiltymj]

I keep going back and forth on if I'm getting a bigger tank or not but I decided to just start a small saltwater tank with my 36 bow front and get a hedgehog!! instead of jumping into a huge one.

But anyways my question is what Watt light will I need to keep corals and anemones? I know I'm going to try to get a T5 4 bulbs. But what is the wattage I will need?

Thank you!!

 

[Sarcothelia]

A 150 watt T5HO will let you keep whatever you want.

 

[hiltymj]

Alright sounds good thank you very much

 

[Gti_Leo]

there is no 150w T5HO, thats a 150w MH and they are garbage, i would never try and light my reef wit ha 150watt.

i suggest a 4 lamp 24 watt T5Ho although i'm guessing your tank is 30" from side to side, which is a pain in the arse to light. my bowfront was also a pain to find a light for

 

[carey]

There are some 30" fixtures just hard to find. I used a odyssea 4 bulb t5 cause it comes in 30". Not the best brand but cheap and it fit. It also worked wonders for all my corals. I had rapid growth when I used the cheap light.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i've never seen a 30" t5 lamp but maybe, the odysseas don't have SLRs do they

 

[carey]

whats an slr?

 

[Nick862]

I got 4x 24w t5 in a bow front corner tank, it was a squeeze but never had a problem with corals, even my flower pot coral is growing like mad, not sure about other corals tho, I got 4 wpg ATM but don't have the save to add more
Lights. Check out my other posts for my pictures

 

[Gti_Leo]

single lense reflectors.

nick with new style lighting its best not to look into the whole watts per gallon.

with T5s you want one lamp per 3-5 inches of tank from front to back, depending what types of corals you want to house, T5s can also penetrate up to 30" of depthwith the right ballast reflectors and lamps.

MH are use to light a 24"x24" area and the wattage all depends on the depth, a 250 watt is good for about 24" where as a 400 watt will do 30" but some may use 1000watts to light up a 30" reef. 150 watts are just pointless and only good for small nanos

LEDs are a totally differnt rule on its own, you can get the same penetration and PAR with half the wattage depending on optic selection and LED intesity