How would you light a 20L tank? looking for advice

I have had my 20L tank running for about 4 years now. It is not drilled and only contains a HOB skimmer and filter. Lighting is a 96W PC and I am going to be upgrading everything. I am surely going to do my first build thread too with tons of pics so everybody stays happy. But my question is how would you light a 20L. I want to be able to get some more light demanding corals but also keeps some softies. I have been pondering this for some time now and just want to see what you guys would come up with.

In my thoughts now are between going all t5, then how many?
I also thought of doing 70W MH with t5s also?

Let me know what you think. I am also going to be building my own hood as well so i will be doing retro fits

 

With such a shallow tank 4x24w t5's and you should have no problems at all.

 

I would go t-5`s or possible led`s for that size tank..metal halide will give off to much heat and more heat equals more evaporation..as of the number of bulbs,I will leave that to the people here who use them...check out this link......http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lighting/t5s-q-54866.html

 

+1-- That would provide plenty of PARs for a 20 long.

Cheers

 

I was also thinking of running just t5s but i dont know if 4 24 inch 24W lights are going to be enough. what all would i be able to keep under just t5s. I was also thinking about just adding a 5th tube to increase the wattage and color spectrum i can achieve. I would love to run a purple fiji as well

 

Anything. You don't realize how much PAR you will get from a 4x24w T5 setup. T5's are waaaaaaay more powerful then PC lights. It's not about total watts, it's about how much PAR you get from said lights. I'd bet that just 2x24w T5's would be as bright (or brighter) than that 96w PC light. So, 4x24w is going to be more than enough, especially in a tank that is only 13 inches tall (less when you take into account the sand bed).

 

I guess since i have been stuck with this 96W light for so long that i just cant wrap my mind around 96W T5 is so much more than just the wattage

 

I had a 70w halide with actinic T5s on my 20 long. (pics in my gallery) That was a good setup. That said, I would think all T5s would be fine too.

 

did you retro that setup cause that was the other option i was thinking about going but havent been able to find much with the 70W MH

 

No I bought it from an online vendor. I won't recommend them because the finish was shotty and it had cords coming out of both ends and a loud fan. Perfect light spectrum though. I will dig around for a better one and post back if I find one.