49 gallon breeder lighting

[drezden88]

I'm about to start setting up everything. I only thing i still need are lights. I want to stick with T5s. I will be adding supplemental LED lighting later. I'm not sure if I want to do 36 four bulb or 24 6 bulb. I was wondering what everything thinks on this. This will be a mixed reef tank with most of it being LPS.

[Radioheadx14]

with mostly LPS, you'd be fine with 4 bulbs. I would stick to 36" because the price isnt much higher but you'll get better coverage and PAR with the 36"

[mcgyvr]

24" is just fine on a 40b (I was running the 24" x 6bulb on my 40b and grew anything I wanted)
I'm actually running the same ATI fixture on my 48" x 24" tank now and its just fine too..
The side spread is just fine and can easily light up double its width.. just not as strong on the edges but certainly not dark nor considerably dimmer either..