lighting question for my tank

[Art13]

I have a 60 gallon, 4 feet long, 18 inches deep, 12 inches or so front to back, looking for a light for it for softies and some lps, would something like a coralife t5 dual lamp work over the tank with 108w or will i need more lighting than this.

 

[nanoreefer1000]

I would get leds, look into DIY

 

[Art13]

I want to go with led's eventually on the tank, i'm just on a bit of a budget until the new year. As for DIY, it probably won't happen as I work 7 days a week and with the house i bought a few months ago, it takes up most of my time, the rest is spend doing maintenance on the tank. I was looking into the reefbreeders 48" photon series so that i can program out the day but i might just go with two of the value ones on timers. Is there a benefit to being able to ramp up and down the lights during the day or does it not make a difference if they are on the same power output throughout the day? I was looking into the two lamp HO light as a possible temporary option for 6 months and then moving that light to my planted freshwater tank and switching out the bulbs when i upgrade to leds on my saltwater. I'm not sure if the 108 watts will give me decent growth in the coral or not.

 

[Chevre]

The Coralife T5 will be all you need for softies to be honest. You dont always need the highest quality most expensive lights. I have the 4ft coralife myself.

In fact many people are switching back from LEDS to MH and t5's. The coralife uses 2 T5 bulbs so as long as you get the right bulbs and replace them every 8-12 months you should be good in terms of coral growth.