Lighting for my new 75g

[claq50]

Hey,

So my little 10 gallon corner tank is doing great and i desided to upgrade to a 75 gallon set up. So far i have the tank and stand all built as well as the hood. Right now im stuck on lighting. I found a 48" T5 light set up. It has a total of 54W x 4. This is a chart that displays the different lumens and all.



















My question is will this light be good enough for that size tank. At that wattage it will give me roughly 2.8 watts a gallon. I want to grow some soft corals and stuff. I also found another set up that offers 260w but it is not a T5. From what i have read, the T5 offer more light at less wattage. Is this true. Thanks for your help.

[d.french]

irun a aquactinics HO t5, fixture is called tx5 its 5 bulb fixture with individual reflectors and i can keep any coral under them, clams and anenomes, ind. reflectors double light output. nova extreme pro is 6 bulb and will cost less.

in order of best and cost more

ati powermodule
aquactinics, constellation and tx5
tek light fixture
nova extreme pro

i have tx5 on 75 gallon and 72" nova extreme pro on a 125 gallon.

[d.french]

if its high output with individual reflectors you can sps, lps, softies, anenome as long as fixture is high output t5's. my buddy has a nice 90 gallon going with rbta, sps, lps, softies and everything is doin awesome you would have to keep sps up a little higher.

[yote]

+1 d.

[reeffreak]

Yes,your correct that T5-HO bulbs put out more light per watt than the other fluorescents.Going with what you listed(4x54w),good enough for soft and LPS corals.

If you want to be unlimited with coral,clams and anemones than look at one of the fixtures Dfrench listed.The single most important feature is individual reflectors.

[claq50]

Thanks for the info, The lights are T5 HO's, i will check to see if they have individual reflectors. Thanks again for the help.

[Oscarsdad608]

Like everone else says individual reflectors are the only way to use t-5. You can get some crazy bulb combos to get awesome color.