how much lighting have I got?

[sschreiber]

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef tank. I bought an 8 bulb T5 fixture. A total of 432 watts or 4.8 watts per gallon. Now granted this is not metal halide but would it still be considered strong lighting? What types of coral could I not keep? I have some small frags of zoas, a birds nest, and some frogspawn. In the fish department I have 2 damsels, a scopas tang, a klausewitz blenny. I also have a sallylightfoot crab and 2 pepermint shrimp. Everything is doing very well. I would like to add more corals but need to know what you all think. Thanks for your input Scott

 

[1guydude]

does the light have a reflector?
Wat kind?... individual bulb ones are best! VVVV <----
8bulbs is good though period so u should be good with anything. Just keep those sps top part of the rock!

 

[sschreiber]

It does have individual bulb reflectors. I do not know what kind of fixture it is. Bought it on ebay. It is the second fixture I have bought on ebay. The first one was a 4 bulb t5. I am pleased so far with both. Thanks

 

[btldreef]

8 bulbs should be enough, especially with individual reflectors. Just place corals with higher lighting demands on the top half. If your tank is less than 9 months, I would not attempt SPS yet. You may find that the stock bulbs are not as great as some others and might want to upgrade over time. ATI and Geissman are two of the better T5 bulb brands, whereas Coralife T5's are not that great.

 

[1guydude]

great advise their about upgrading ur bulbs! U get more par and the color u want!!!

 

[reefraff]

The no name ebay fixtures tend to have poorly designed reflectors and not enough room for good ones. With good lamps an 8 lamp unit like that should be OK for SPS up on the rocks. Easiest way to tell is the measure the width of your reflector. They need to about 2 inches wide at a minimum to be effective.