t5 ho fixture(s)

[angeladawng]

currently have a solarmax t5ho fixture with 1 10,000K daylight lamp and 1 actinic lamp, 8 blue moonlight LED's...108W total. am planning on getting another one after Christmas and am wondering what if any anemones I will be able to keep. owner of lfs said that I could keep only a few varieties of soft coral with only one fixture (he had a coral tank with the same fixture and everything looked great) but absolutely no anemones until I get more lighting so I figured if I doubled what I have to 216w, that would be ok. I have a standard 75 gallon but with all the rock it's probably more 70. if that wouldn't be sufficient for anemones of any kind, would it still open up more possibilities for soft corals? Also, his prices seem to be way out of line on ANY kind of corals compared to what I have seen online but his prices on fish are competetive...is liveaquaria a good online resource to purchase corals from?

[obscurereef]

4 bulbs would be min. for a nem. Prob. best to put the anemone in the middle-top. You can have a lot more soft corals if not all b/c they require low-medium lighting. You can keep some LPS too. One of my LFS has way cheaper corals than online, mostly b/c they are small frags. I rather many small cheap frags and grow them out then have a few larger more expensive pieces. The other LFS have about the same if not higher coral prices, but all same or lower than online prices for fish. LA can be really expensive b/c of the quality of their product. For example, they sell their McCoskers wrasse for $45 and my LFS sells theirs at about $30.

[BallinCrew10]

A 2 bulb fixture is not enough for a nem. IMO you'd need a 6 bulb. Not sure how long your tanks been running, but usually you'll want to wait a year or so before getting a nem.

[angeladawng]

thank you for the replies not planning on nems for a long time if ever due to my budget restraints. I clearly can't afford the lighting I would need. The fixture I have now was $200 and at that price, would only be able to get one more at tax refund time. and besides, there are plenty of soft corals that have the "anemone look" that I would want