Lighting on a 55

+1 Watt per gallon or other metrics are useless T-5s put out a lot of light. You may have some shadows in the corners, but will be perfectly fine. Just keep less light needy corals there. That fixture has individual reflectors and will have no problem punching down 19".

 

The light spread seems to be pretty good with how I have them positioned!

 

I have that exact same tank/stand/canopy. Its a 58 gallon btw. It is difficult to find lights that fit in there. You only have about 4 inches of clearance or else you cant close the lid. Most fixtures are atleast 5 inches and I felt it was too close to the water for a retro. I took the lid off my canopy and ran a 36 inch 4 bulb t5 fixture. I have the Canopy still on there to block the light bleeding over but the lid and hinge is gone. I really like the way it looks. Something to think about.

 

You will be fine with that lighting, however, it would be nice if you changed the bulbs to some ATi's or something like that. You would get a little more par if you ran something like a combo of blue + purple+ and aquablue specials.

 

So what ATI bulb combo should I get?

Also the bulbs seem to be only 22" long, I do not see any bulbs online for that size.

 

T5 bulb combinations

The bulbs are a little shorter than what's listed. A 24 inch, 24 watt bulb is really 22 inches long.

 

I used to run 3 blue+ and one purple+ pedends on how blue you like it.