Lighting Question

B

bchdFLdian

Okay, so I have a 36" regular double strip light with 2 30w bulbs. 1 is regular flourescent and the other is a phillips coralife (the blue one)

I just ordered a new 36" T-5 setting and 2 bulbs to go in that which should total 78w in the T-5 setup (one daylight one ultra actinic blue)

I have a 49g bowfront. Is that enough lighting for a reef tank? We're not looking for coral right yet, just anemone - but coral later!

It's been a few years since my husband has done reef tanks and we just can't remember what everything should be.

Thanks!
 
Are you saying you have a total of just over 100 watts of light?

I would not think this would be enough for most corals but may be ok for mushrooms and button polyps.

If you have not made this purchase yet I would look into 175 watt metal halide light or even a 250 watt MH.
 
at the moment there are 138w total. if that's too low, we'll likely sell our regular flourescent tube setup and get another T-5 one that will hold 2-3 more.

if we don't get 150-250w in metal halide would that same amount in T-5 work well?

also, how's the current setup for anemone?
 
Again this all depends on what corals you are planning on keeping.
A good all around system would be metal halide type.

the electronic ballast for MH is very efficient.

Find the corals you like and then match the lighting needed for that.
 
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