20 gallon lighting help

[shaynep]

hello every1 back into the hobby again i was looking at doing a reef tank and i want to use extra normal output t5 lights there 34" long and 21 watts each i was going to go for 4 lights to equal 84 watts i was woundering wat kind of corals can i grow with that kind of lighting? any help would be great if a must i could add another bulb for 105 watts

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would pass on normal output t5's. They do not put out the right spectrum of color for corals. Look into a t5HO setup. With a 4 bulb t5HO setup, you would have enough light for any coral you want to keep in the 20 gallon tank.

 

[shaynep]

see my lfs said id be ok for softies but i wasnt to see wat every1 els though

 

[bjohanson1234]

but why limit yourself to only softies? go with the t5HO fixtures. You wont regret it.

 

[shaynep]

dont really have the money for that and just tryin to get on the edge of reefing to see if i can do alright with some softies and then when i upgrade ill go t5 ho and a much large tank

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, I think that will be fine for softies. You can upgrade later on.

 

[shaynep]

that was my thought and idt being such a shallow tank i thought maybe big word there maybe i could get away with some med light corals like pulsing corals or such but around jan i can upgrade to t5 ho if everythings going well

 

[shaynep]

right now i only have a zoo med t8 17 watt over it and i have some kind of mushroom and polyp thats doing ok not to big but the 1 shroom head is a little bigger then a quarter

 

[eclipse_001]

you should check out http://www.aquatraders.com they have a 150w halide with 2 t5 HO lights for only $99 plus lots of other lights cheap you could get your t5 HO's there they have a 4x24w t5 with moon lights for $69

 

[reeffreak]

Save your money.

I'm with BJ on this one.Why spend your money for normal output T5 just to try keeping a few softies.Normal T5 has very little PAR and the bulb choices are abysmal.If you think you will be happy with mushroom and zoas then knock yourself out.I'm betting that you like most people will want more then what those lights can provide.