T5 Vs T5 HO

any upgrade is better than the original light IMO... the original could've been old and needed to be replaced. So not a waste!

 

A plain T5 is going to be better than a plain T12, which is what it likely came with.

 

thanks

 

can I grow any soft coral or anemone with a plain t5

 

Anemone most likely not, there may be a softy or two that might be a problem. Just read up on the coral you want to figure out if it is light needy.

 

Most softies should be ok. You could have any non-photosynthetics too, like sun corals.

 

IMO, you wasted your money. I wouldn't consider the T5 an upgrade, but a lateral move. As said, you can run a T5 HO bulb in a NO T5 socket, but you won't get any additional benefit.

As to corals/ anemones, I would feel comfortable with a 2 bulb T5 HO fixture on that sized tank for soft corals. The problem is, you want to keep low light corals with very high light anemones. If you want to have any sort of chance of keeping an anemone alive long term, you will need much more light then what you have IMO. If you forget about the anemone, and get a 2 bulb T5HO fixture, you should be fine for soft corals.