Lighting a 90 gallon tank under $400

anytime man just doing my part

300-450 good for softs and most LPS, some lps with have trouble on the lower side.

If you went with MH you dont have to run them all the time run the t5' longer
but if its the bill every month, WATTS are WATTS to me it worth it the tank just has a differant look, plus theres the shimmer that you wont get the full effect of with the t5's but thats me.
you dont NEED MH though t5's will look nice and grow stuff and give your coral good color
 
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Another good way to find good equipment at low prices is to look here for a reef club in your area. People are always entering and leaving this hobby, so there are usually some great deals to be found in the club forums.

I don't know exactly how well they pull it off, but there are LED add-on lights that try to mimic the MH shimmer in a T5 tank.
 
Ok, I'm set on getting T5's because it wont get as hot and expensive than MHs.

My question is what's a good model to get and also, why are there 4 and 6 lights? The highest is 54 watts each, if I got the 4, how limited am I to the type of corals I want?
 
as long as you get one with a total of 300w you should be ok with almost all softies most lsp's and a few sps like monti's
as far as which one is better just look for ones that have perks like fans or seperate switches check out sunlight supply tek lights, or jbj, icecap just look around find some you like, and ask the guys on here what the think of those brands
someone has tried whatever you find
but no matter what you find it will do the job

more bulb = more watts other than that there is little or no difference between the each model from the same brand
 
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I have two tanks now one is a 55 that has a tek 4 bulb t-5 fixture and the other is a 90 mixed reef that has 2 150w MH and two 54w t-5 it's an outer orbit light. I have to keep my sps at the top of the tank for them to have enough light. I wish I would have got the 250w fixture. If I were you get the 6 bulb fixture and raise the light if it's to much light.
 
looks good to me its in your price range at least 300watts fans switchs good brand what are you waiting for order that puppy LOL

seems like a good deal
 
You can do alot better than that. Save a hundred bucks.

Checkout buildyouraquarium.com and Ebay.

And if all you plan is softies. A 4x54 would be good enough.
 
If you are buying a T5 light fixture (new or used) make sure to buy one with individual reflectors. I'm not an expert, but I did a lot of reading before I bought my T5 set up. That seemed to be the single most important piece of advice that I read. The individual reflectors are much more efficient at directing the light downward into the tank where you need it. OP, most likely you will not get the best price on a fixture by going to your local fish store. At least look online for what you want and take the evidence to the store and see whether the store will match the price, or at least come close to it.
 
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