Will this work ??????

hey everyone

I just set up a new 150 gallon tank its six feet long and currenty im running two 48 inch t5 with ati bulbs. Each light puts out 216 watts total watt of 432. I plan on keeping just the soft coral no hard coral please help im so confused about this whole gallon per watt or watt per gallon stuff. PLEASE HELP thank you everyone

 

How deep is the tank? I think for softies you should be ok.

Edit, so you have 8 t5s over it? You should be able to grow most corals imo.

 

the tank is 24 inch deep

 

You should be fine.

 

yes total of eight bulbs. That makes me feel so much better thank you so much

 

The whole watt per gallon is not a reliable was to messure how mush light is getting to your corals now a days. In the old days of keep reefs, sure, but with better bulbs and fixtures compared to back then, the whole 3-5 watt per gallon as a rule of thumb goes right out the window. Especially when it comes to T5's, Metal Halides and LEDs. It's the Par or Pur that you need to messure will determine how much light is actually getting to your corals. Wattage is just a messurment of power your fixture has not light output! If you think about it when it comes to LED's... a single LED has 1-1 1/2 watt. And just say you have a 90gal tank that is 48 inches long and you are using a 48 inch LED fixture that has 50 LED's. That makes for only 50-75 watts per gallon for that tank, but that fixture is more than capable of keeping SPS corals. Same goes for T5's... they have a very high output on light (if you get the proper bulbs). So, in my opinion the fixture you have on your tank is more than enough to keep pretty much any coral, including most SPS. I had a 33 gallon tank with one T5 fixture that used 2 39watt bulbs, one actnic and one 6,000K daylight. I had a monti cap and a monti digi under that lgihting near the top of the tank and they grew fantasticly! So, wattage doesn't really matter with the technology we currently have for keeping reef tanks, it's the ammount of light your fixture makes is what matters, NOT the wattage of your fixture.

 

You will be able to keep any photosynthetic animal you want. You may wish to raise the fixtures to 30" above your sand to help prevent color loss due to too much light.

 

aww that make perfect sense thank you so much. The whole watt per gallon was making my head hurt lol

 

ow that can happen with to much light ? the light are pretty close to 30 inches from the sand bed. this is not a easy hobby lol

 

No it isn't, too many variables and options.