t5 good enough?

Hey, I have 6 T5 48'' bulbs. three of them are actinics and 3 of them are 10000k day lights. This lighting system will be used for my 55gallon tank. There is a total of 318 watts equalling 5.78 watts/gallon. Is this enough light for a reef tank?

 

yes I would say so.IMO
What kind of corals you plan on keeping?

 

well i have a 29 gallon biocube that has polyps, leathers, soft corals, lobo brain, zoos, mushrooms, sun corals, hammer, frogspawn.... I want to get into SPS but ive heard there more difficult and i have no experience with them. I want to be able to do everything IMO; what are my restrictions with my lighting system

 

the key to sps in my opinion is STABILITY. yeah it seems you have enough lighting for most sps depending on age of bulbs, reflectors, etc..... Try getting a monti cap or birdsnest and giving that a try.

 

I have the 4x54 T5 48" on my 55 gallon. I have two LPS (torch/bubble), zoas, acans, softies. No problem. (My LPS are in the top half of tank though).

 

You will be fine, start with easy sps, such as montipora and go from there.

 

You have plenty. Try not to use the old watts per gallon. Now a days it's more about intensity, penetration and spectrum. Check out this article to better aid you in your understanding; OceanReeFlections Marine and Reef School 101

 

wow, read through about most of the article. THanks alot, i feel confident now that i have enough light for soft and LPS corals. Maybe have SPS in a while, but high on the rocks.

 

A common mistake people make is getting a lighting system based on the size of thier tanks rather then first considering the types of corals they plan on keeping.
Do some research on the types of corals you'd like and get to know thier lighting requirements.