Lighting For 55 Gallon Reef Tank

[crizfish]

I am new to this hobby and sold myself sort on lighting. Thankfully, I have not done much more than set the tank up and begin to stock live rock.

I bought a T5 lighting unit which rates 108 watts. I have a 55 gallon (48x18x13) and want to do corals, LR and fish. I have the following questions:

1 . Any suggestions on how to proceed with improving lights?

I would love to not have the unit I bought be a wash and use it somehow, but not sure the best way.

2 . I have read that in using the 4-6 watts per gallon rule that you consider displacement by substrate and LR...is this true? Is a 55 gallon really only figured as if it were a 45-50 gallon?

3. Without going the route of MH, how much wattage and what type of fixtures would anyone reccomend?

I look forward to learning from the experts here!

Thanks!

[Rusty]

The first question I would ask is what type of corals are you wanting to keep? The second question is what is wrong with the light you have? As far as I know there is absolutely nothing wrong with T5 lighting, you might just have to purchase a little more to get the color and output you need. As far as the watts/gallon rule I don't know how accurate that would really be. It depends on depth of the tank, reflectors on the lamps, height of the lamps, type of lamps and so on and so forth. In other words there are a lot of factors not only gallons of water in the tank.

[JNicho]

Forget you ever heard the "watts per gallon" rule...that has been around for a long time and really applied to things when there were very few choices available...there are so many different options today that it just doesn't apply.

Can you provide a bit more info on your current lights...IE. brand, # of bulbs, type of reflector.

[crizfish]

Sure,

I like the light fine, just from what I have read I may need more that 108 watts???

I am interested in Soft, LPS and SPS corals. My tank depth is about 18 inches give or take considering substrate.

Here is what I have.

Current USA Nova Extreme T5 X2 Aquarium Lighting Fixture, 2X54 Watt, 48 inch
Features:

One 54 Watt SlimPaq 10K and one 54 watt 460nm Actinic Blue T5 HO fluorescent lamp
Dimensions: 48" x 4.25" x 1.5"
108 Watts
Individually contoured reflectors
Plastic mounting legs
Cooling fan

Performance driven electronic ballast. No independent control over 10K and Actinic lamps.

[jdejay02]

IMO on a 55 that fixture should be good with softies and most lps. It probably not enough for most sps if you want sps you should have 4-6 bulbs instead of just 2. I would just buy another fixture like it and just use 2 and i think you will be ok. If you just want to start with some softies and lps i think you may have the ticket already. The watt per gallon rule was kind of shot when T5s hit the market.

[clown69]

You should be fine with any thing you want to put in there with those lights as long as you keep up with replacing your bulbs when they need to be. and goood water quality, cleaner water will let light pass threw deeper.