T5 Watt recomendations for 65g tall...

[deeze]

I have a 65 gallon tall tank (36x18x24) and I'm getting ready to buy a light fixture and was wondering how many watts per gallon I should go buy in a T5 fixture. I've talked to several online stores and LFS that say T5 setups can be a good bit lower in watts per gallon. I want to keep softies and inverts and don't want to worry about not having enough light. The latest system I was looking at was an 8 bulb x39 watt for a total of 4.8 watts per gallon. In fact, that's pretty much my max because that's the max that will fit under my hood at 19" wide. However, they also sell a 6 bulb x39 watt for a total of 3.6 watts per gallon and they swear that would be enough for basically anything I want to put in the tank. I don't want to use MH bulbs because I don't want to heat my office any more than it already is in the Florida summer. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Thanks in advance...

 

[reefraff]

I think you will be fine with 6 lamps. If you are using the retrofits that is all that will fit in an 18" hood anyway. If you are getting a fixture then the 8 lamp unit might fit.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
There are several "individuals" seeking to cash in on the reputations of the good T5 systems. The Reflectors are a major factor. You need to make sure you are getting individual parabolic reflectors either in the retrofit kit or the pre made fixture. You also want German lamps, either ATI, D and D or Narva. The good premade fixtures are Tek lights from sunlight supply. They also make retrofits as does Ice Cap. One nice benefit to the retrofit is you can use Ice Cap ballasts which will drive the 39 watt lamps somewhere in the mid 70's without hurting the lamps.
I run 6 of the 80 watt lamps over my 125 (overdriven by IC ballasts) and have good growth with SPS's and have a Crocea clam living in the sand. A standard system will be fine for most softies and even moderate light SPS if you put them upon the rocks. There are some more budget priced systems as far as retrofits that have a less precision reflector that would be fine as well as long as you don't plan on SPS or clams.
You can e-mail me stevelarsen00@hotmail.com if you want a list of people with the goodstuff.
CHeers