What to do about light?

[canonxsi79]

Originally Posted by 00youknowit00

I'm setting up my 20H and last thing is what I'm the worst at, knowing what lights to get.. I have this fixture right now:
http://fishneedit.com/t5ho-24quot-2-...quarium-l.html
with either 6500k or 6700k bulbs. Now I'm sure that's not enough light to grow anything. So could I just get another of the same fixture, so I'd have 4 bulbs. And get different bulbs for my current one.

Would that be enough? Also, what bulbs should I get?

Thanks Guys!

[CorallineAlgae]

Just to clarify, I'm not saying 4 lights wouldn't be great for a 20H reef. It just wouldn't be needed for a 20H mushroom tank. Even with other assorted softies. Before T5s I had a 30L with only 2 T8s that grew so many soft corals I had to travel to 5 fish stores just to sell off all my propagated extras (toadstool leathers, mushrooms, xenia, zoas..). It ran like that for 6 years. I did upgrade to 2 VHOs and 1 150W HQI and was able to grow anything. That was before T5s hit the scene.

[mr_X]

Originally Posted by 00youknowit00

Great!

mr_X slightly confused me, so I was a little concerned haha. He said It would be enough for anything, then said could keep soft corals and some lps..

If you reread my post you'll see that I did not say it's enough for anything.
In my opinion, even a 4 lamp fixture isn't plenty. It's plenty to keep sps colored up perhaps, but not to get optimum growth.

[00youknowit00]

Originally Posted by mr_X

If you reread my post you'll see that I did not say it's enough for anything.
In my opinion, even a 4 lamp fixture isn't plenty. It's plenty to keep sps colored up perhaps, but not to get optimum growth.

Oh okay sorry, when you said "it's not enough to grow anything" I thought you meant that it was pretty much useless.. my bad

[00youknowit00]

My last question I believe haha

So I can judge which corals I can get easier, in y'all's opinions, what kind of light do I have? Low-Medium-High, with the combos of Low-Medium, Medium-High ect.

Thanks Again!!

[Flreefer]

You have med light. You will be able to support any soft coral and LPS, without issue. You may be able to keep some SPS, very high up on your rockwork, maybe. SPS are definitely harder to keep healthy, I would stick to softies and LPS until you feel you've got the hang of it. Then maybe try an SPS, if you want to.