Quote:
Originally Posted by DrunkenSunday  ... So, on to my question....
I absolutely want to run t5 lights with individual reflectors at a low cost. How much wattage would you recommend? |
In my opinion, there "aint no such animal."
Typically, although it's not a hard fast rule, you want at least 4 watts of light per gallon of water. 6 would be better. To keep LPS and soft corals, you are looking at about 540 to 810 watts of light over the tank. You might get away with a bit less, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Such a fixture and bulbs isn't going to come cheep, and it's not going to be cheep to operate. Note too that you are almost in the same watt range as MH's would be. That is 2 or 3, 250w MH bulbs, for 500 to 750 watts.
I'm not trying to push MH on you, if you like T5s. There are advantages and disadvantages both ways. I simpley want to point out that good light doesn't come cheep.