T5 lighting advice needed

[Mach]

I was wondering what everyones thoughts were on T5 lighting. I recently bought Sun Systems Tek Light T5 4x54watt fixture for my 90g. The quality is awesome. However, I have concerns of the lighting not being able to penetrate deep enough for my tank, since its 24" deep. I dont plan on keep any clams, just soft corals.
I dont want to go with metal halide due to the price of units, maintenance costs, electricity bill, and possible need for a chiller.

Should I purchase a new T5 unit with 6 or 8 bulbs? Am I good with just the 4 bulb unit? What should I do? Im getting sick of wasting money so I am going to ask questions on here first before i buy something that Im gonna regret.

Thanks for any help,
Anthony

 

[loganj]

I think you'll have to be careful what you put in the lower regions of the tank. The T-5's are very intense lights and I don't think you'll have any trouble keeping the less demanding corals with the fixture you have as long as they are in the upper 2/3's of the tank. Shrooms and some bottom dwelling LPS might be OK on the substrate.

 

[ReefRaff]

a freind of mine Gordon had just set up some T5's, and He likes them much. I say go for it.

 

[alrmc4]

mac i have 6 t5's on my 75 gal i do not understand all the jargon that people use so do not expect this to sound high tec. my bulbs each have their own reflector from what i understand it is very important the problems i have had with mine so far are: it is very difficult to find areas of low enough light i have had to use alage to shade some of my things i just bumped my lighting down some was using 3 ati sun bulbs in the center and felt that was to much so i now have 2 blue plus 2 atinic and 2 ati sun so far i am happy with that set up the best my green acro frag is on the bottom of the tank and has started to take over the rock it is on. have leathers mushrooms and a cash crop of pulsing pom pom that has paid for itself and more now. as far as the possibility of having to run a chiller do not let the info out there fool you they may be not as hot as mh but they do throw off heat i have to run little walmart fans on my sump in the summer to keep the heat down...good luck if you have any questions feel free to pm me i can send you some pics if you like...lor