Whats so good about t5 ho

[Jawaits]

I am running a 10$ wallowed fixture right now with Marine glo 40 wat and a life glo 40 wat on a 10 gallon fresh( it has a 18 wat as well) and on a 20 high sw tank can it work?

 

[carey]

depends on what you;d like tokeep in the sw tank. you'd be limited as far as corals are concerned in my opinion.

 

[Tomchong22]

They are more compact thus being able to fit more in a fixture. For instance a t12 bulb produces way more par then a t5 Ho bulb but the size is so huge that it is redundant. For corals I would suggest a 4 bulb t5 Ho fixture or 3 t8 bulbs that are Ho or overdriven. Another option is a 150 watt metal halide light.

 

[Jawaits]

What about LEDs are they better for coral growth?

 

[carey]

Led's are tricky and expensive. For instance the marineland reef ready led's arent very good but you'd have to do a lot of research on the ones you were buying tomake sure enough light is actually being given off. they are super pretty and make a nice shimmer on your water but again there are soo many out there picking the right one requires alot of searching in my opinion.

 

[Tomchong22]

They can be but you have to do allot of research first. There are alot of bad LEDs out there. For starting off I would stick with metal halide or t5/t8.