Lighting for reef tank. No hard coral

MrFish

Hi Folks

Thought I would post this here rather than on the end of my other posts.

I have a 42 gallon tank that is 24" deep without substrate.

Once I have substrate and rock in there (ie depth about 22" or less) what lighting would be best.

The tank came with a hood that has 4 x T8 fittings (two actinic) but I think I could adapt this for T5's. Do you think that for that depth of water T5's would be enough considering I only want soft corals, fish and inverts and would prefer not to overspend. If so would I need all four as T5's or could I get away with two T5's and keep the actinic T8's?

Help very much needed and appreciated with this. This is the only thing I am now unsure about, having spent too much time on the internet at work doing research.

caferacermike

Honestly if you keep your coral expectations low and place them high on your rock your lights might work as is. You'll want to stay with soft corals, zoas, and mushrooms. You might pull off some hammer or frogspawn LPS but it would be a bit more risky and they will grow slow.

If you upgrade to T5, keep in mind that the reflector makes ALL the difference. Best reflector for the money is Sunlight supply TEK reflectors. You will just waste your money throwing any old T5 retrofit into the canopy.

Remember fish don't if it's dimly lit. I've read your other posts and you sound like you want a simple setup without all the frills. Best of luck with whatever you choose.

MrFish

Thanks cafer.

I think I will just keep the actinics as they are and put in 2 T5's just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for your help (in both posts). Got some searching for a bargain to do now.