lighting need help

[savrin]

i have had my tank running for about 2 and half months now i was on going to keep a fish onlt tank but after going to a few fish shop i now wont to keep some corals mainly soft what i wont to know is that can i keep them with t5 and i so then wont to know how many do i need? i have two interpet compact 21" 54w my tank is 5ft long 18"wide and 20"top to bottem i have 30g sump a v2 skimmer 800 my tank holds about 400lts
also should i go for 10000k 14000k or just a 6500k

has anyone used d&d t5 light if so what do you thing of them? are they better then all others or is there better if so which one should i get


i really hope someone can help

[Reefscape]

Never used a D&D T5 personally, but i know a few people that use them and they have not had any issues with them at all..You could keep some softies like shrooms or leathers up top in the tank....


are they better then all others or is there better if so which one should i get - There is always better, no matter what light you have...Personally, i am a metal halide person..just my preference so i dont have any limitations of corals i want...within reason..

I personally prefer 14k lights as its in the middle...not yellow (10k ) and not blue (20k )....6500k is not good enough in my opinion for corals, just fish only...

Niko

[divecarl]

most web sites and the like suggest between 3 and 6 watts of light per gallon of water for keeping corals and your tank is about 100 gallons thefore by this rule you should be aiming for over 300 watts

[Germanman]

yea at least 300 watts. i have a halide though and will always use them from now on...but i have seen some wonderful tanks with T-5s. its personally preference just aim for 3+ wpg. also it depends on what u want to keep as well.