what do i have?!

i have a coralife 50/50 96watt
and its about 36in long
exactly the length of my tank

im a noob... what would that be considered a t5 or what? i dont understand the t5 and stuff

but my tank is 40gallons[breeder, so its wider]
and 38lbs of liverock

 

You have power compacts. They are not T5s. T5s are long skinny bulbs that look like a standard florescent bulb but skinnier. T5s are the most efficient/advanced bulbs available for reef lighting other than LEDs which are too expensive for most at this time.

Power compacts are becoming outdated but still useful. people grow all types of stuff with them still. 50/50 means half actinic and half 10,000 kelvin or in lamens terms, the color of the bulb. 10k bulbs are whitish yellow. Actinics are purplish-blue. You want the 10k or lower kelvin for the intensity and the actinic blues to balance out the ugly hue of yellow light. Most people prefer a little more blue in there tanks so they opt for 12K or 14K bulbs instead of 10k. You got both bulbs in one which is a common way power compacts are. If you ever decide to go T5, you will have much more choices for bulb colors.

Considering you have a shallow tank, you should be able to keep a lot of different corals. I would not get into the high light corals called SPS. stick with softies and LPS which are generally lower light corals with the exception of some LPS.

You better get to researching asap so you can stock it with some corals. And don't forget to take a lot of pictures for us!

 

*Edit-Oops, looks like Matt beat me to it

 

Also, Dr. Fragenstein started a thread exclusively about T5s, you should check it out. Although, Im sorry I cant seem to find the link, try searching for it or maybe someone else can chime in?

 

You don't have to edit your responses. Sometimes good answers take a while to type out. Someone might beat you in your response while you're typing but it doesn't mean your response is any less worthy.

 

Heres the link Cement Skis mentioned..
Its also on my sig if you forget!
http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lighting/t5s-q-54866.html

 

There it is, really good thread. As a matter of fact, that was the thread that lead to my favor over Metal Halides.......I was on the fence for a while.