Lights for a 12gal nanoreef

[fishingforanswers]

Basically I'm looking for some suggestions on a lighting system for my tank. Currently there are two power compact lamps totaling 54 watts of power which I don't think is enough for my tastes. I want to keep soft corals and maybe in the future some LPS. I've been talking to a lot of people about T-5s and they say this is the way to go. So I'm debating a single halide fixture or loading up with T5's. Any suggestions or light combinations that work consistently? Thank you.

 

[Invader K]

Metal halides, even a single, would be a bit too much for your softies. I would go with T-5's myself. A good rule of thumb for lighting for a soft coral/LPS setup is anything between 3-5 watts per gallon.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

you could go with a 70 watt de halide, placed a foot above the tank-that would give you the 'real sun' glitter line effect, but you'd get quite abit of light scatter around the tank itself

for the corals, even 2x 18 watter pc's would be just fine

 

[dvmsn]

I would stick with what you have. I have all lps in mine and they do well.

 

[mezzoo]

I have a 70w Sunpod on my tank and it works good, only bad thing is the evaporation rate.