Is 216watt T5 enough to grow corals in a 55 gallon?

[mpenny0]

Im new to the hobby and i was wanting to know if 216 t5 would be enought to grow all corals?

 

[sickboy]

Should be. That is just shy of the 4 watt/gallon rule, but the T5s put out more light per watt than the flourescent bulbs that the rule was designed for.

 

[1990jpyj]

its not safe for all corals. anemonie would be one that i dont think you would be able to keep. other then that i think you should be fine.

 

[stanlalee]

yes its enough for most soft corals, long poly stony corals (LPS) and bubble tip anemone. if its an individually reflected fixture (or retro kit) like a 4 bulb TEK, Giesemann or even SunDial (individually contoured reflectors) you will be able to keep pretty much everything with proper bulb selection and keeping higher light demanding corals (small polyp stony corals/SPS) towards the top half of the tank.

 

[05xrunner]

as long as the fixture is individual reflectors you can keep anything you want...if it just has one large reflector for all 4 then you will only be able to have LPS and softies.
Watts per gallon are useless to use as a guide

 

[michelleolds]

thats what i have on my tank. it does not have individual reflectors.(didnt know any better when i bought it) i have mostly soft coral, but i do have a couple of sps placed at the top and in the 5 months that they have been in there they have not quite, but almost doubled in size(they were frags)