lighting on a 5 gal

[gesswhosbak]

Told to move the post here. I am wondering if two NO flourescent bulbs(15'' and 14watt) would be enough for my 5 gal in order for me to keep a few corals. This will give me a total of 28 watts. I read on here that the general rule is 3-4 watts/gal. This will give me about 5. Thanks for the info.

 

[justinx]

Depending on what you want to keep, yes that would be sufficient. Corals such as mushrooms, zoanthids, green star polyps, they would all do well in a system like that.
Justin

 

[overanalyzer]

I had 26 watts of PC over my old 5 gallon - are you sure it is a five gallon tank - those lights sound long?? my old 5 was a 1/2 hex that was 12" at its longerst point.
I kept shrooms, zoos, GSP and a candy cane in there. Must admit candy cane happier with the 150 watts of VHO in my 20 though!

 

[gesswhosbak]

i am sure. well it is a 5.5 gal. so over, you are saying i should go the pc route right?

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by gesswhosbak
i am sure. well it is a 5.5 gal. so over, you are saying i should go the pc route right?
That or a MH pendant .... which causes a ton of evaporation and would be a huge PITA - so I personally would go with PC's and have a lower amount needed for top off ..... 5.5 gallons with a gallon a day in evaporation would make the environment pretty harsh .... dripping that much would be a challenge to get right - so if you are patient and want to fiddle wiht your drip then a MH would make it a sweet tank .... all comes down to time, money and quality .....

 

[r@ise]

on my 5.5 I have 2 x 28w PC's.
With the smallest sized computer fan I could find I evap quite a bit. But its no worries because I have the auto-top off from californiareefs.com, which I HIGHLY recommend.
I would say go with either 2x28w or 2x32w, depending on yoru spectrum wants..... or there is always MH but pendants can be funky looking if not done right, plus its not always easy to allocate space to hang something from the ceiling