T5 from Electrical Supplier

And do i need some kind of stand for those lights or I will need to hang them up from my ceiling.

 

What exactly are you getting from the electrical supplier? You can get parts from an electrical supplier no problem. You will need a T5 HO ballast, reflectors, end caps and a wiring harness or you can DIY the wiring. If you are only doing soft corals, you could get away with 2 bulbs if they are HO. Now you have a lot of possibilities, I will give you a few.

The easiest thing to do is to buy an aquarium fixture. They come in 2-10 bulbs (maybe 12) and you can easily find one that will fit your budget and tank. You could also do a retrofit kit. This is where you buy the parts an install them in some sort of hood or canopy over your tank. That way is generally cheaper as you are basically getting a fixture without the casing. There are kits available online or you can completely DIY. If you have a canopy, I would buy 4 bulbs, reflectors, 8 end caps and you will need two ballasts I think, although that may depend on the ballast. Four HO bulbs will give you good lighting and you will be able to mess around with the Temp. of the bulb so that you can get the color you want.

As to bulbs, it's not required you need any special aquarium bulb. However, I highly suggest using them. You could probably use 1 6500K bulb or other lower K rated bulb, but I would balance it out with at last 2 blue/actinic bulbs and you can use another 10K bulb. So basically 2 daylights, 2 blue bulbs. That will help with growth and color. The color of most aquarium bulbs wont' shift as much either, so you can get more useful life out of them.

 

Thank you for the response.

I really appreciate all of your comments.