Lighting a 20gal High reef tank

[emorrison33]

I recently started a reef tank in my 20gal high fish tank. I purchased 1 24" 65w Satellite lamp with a 50/50 bulb...will this be sufficient to add corals later on ??

 

[lando]

It really depends on the types of corals you wish to keep. The problem with "high" tanks is that the light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom. More intense lighting is needed to get the light to penetrate. With the light you have you should be able to keep some soft corals and LPS corals if they are placed higher in the tank.

 

[deathmatch782]

Until 3 weeks ago i was running 55W on my 20H tank. The light really wasnt making it down far enough to let some of my corals grow as well as i wanted them to.
I upgraded to 130W and can see noticable difference now.

 

[Scottm]

I find that if you have enough wattage the extra depth helps with diffusing the light out over a wider range which makes everything grow better.