Hey everyone I am looking to buy a T5 set up for my 29gl tank it is 24wx20h12 I want to keep a bubble tip and some clowns along with a few shrimp etc. I am wondering how many bulb set up I should get how powerful the bulbs and what kind with what configuration?

the key with T5's are to have individual bulb reflectors. i would look into 54w x 4 bulb configuration because the anemone will need intense light. BUT, it will also need an established tank (at least 6 months old).

Yeah I am not going to add it for awhile i am just doing all my research now so I don't get any suprises what the ideal bulb configuration with a 4 bulb set up

I like T5s and have a small 24" Current Nova Extreme fixture with two 24W T5 bulbs in it. I use if for QT and what not. It makes very little heat and is a nice fixture. Though 4 bulbs would be nice. This would likely be enough light for you. Though you might look for a 4 light fixture and one with individual reflectors would be better (as Bobby said).

As another possibility have you considered power compact lighting also? I don't have any experience with it so I can't say how it compares, though I believe in general the T5 HO is considered to be a little higher output than PC. And there are lower wattage T5 bulbs available also so make sure you are looking at the HO ones.

thats what I was kinda wondering if I could get away with a 2 bulb one since it is a small tank what kinda bulbs should I go with for it?

i am going to leave this to NaClFinatic or anyone elsethat wants to jump in here. i am a halide man myself and have very limited knowledge of T5's.

I currently have 110W VHO Actinics and 4 250W MH. The actinics are do to be replaced and I was wondering what the difference is between T5 HO and VHOs? Would the T5s be an acceptable replacement?

I bought Nova Extreme T5s for my 30 gallon. Specs - 36", 156 watts, 4-39 watt bulbs, 3 moonlights. My corals & anemone thrived under them. My 90 gallon has 2/2 VHO. Here is
a shot of them next to each other, there is a big difference. Both tanks have black backgrounds,
90 is painted, 30 has the black plastic aquarium backing. Having used both, I prefer the "effect"
that the VHO puts out. Functionally, my corals/anemone were equally happy when moved to the VHO. My Toadstool is much happier under the VHO (only coral I noticed had a reaction when moved)

http://jcreefbuddies.com/forum/gallery/1_05_12_07_6_43_52.jpg

thats a awesome looking tank. Now on too my next question I am thinking about doing some coral too down the road but don;t really know anything about it yet. What kinda coral can I keep in my size tank? can I keep them with a anenome? and what type of filtration and lighting will I need? This is a awesome hobby but damn theres alot to know haha

I said two bulbs might be good for some fish and an buble tip. Adding coral could change the equation. This is a broad generalization and there are defnitely exceptions but much of the soft coral doe sfine with lower light. There are also hard species that are found deeper and need less light but these are not usually as readily available in the hobby. I decided to skip an anenome because they can move around and knock over corals and even get stuck in powerheads. LR is the best filtration and if you can add a sump to your system that will help stability by adding water volume. Besides the LR you will want a skimmer. For your size tank without too high a load I would reccommend a AquaC Remora skimmer. I have one I used on a smaller tank and it worked great. Yes there is lots to learn (and lots to buy also)! If you havent done so you should download the early podcasts starting with episode 1. They will answer a lot of beginner questions for you. A good book or two will also help.

excellent thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it all

Hi tdanks, I thought I'd chime in here as I recently moved from a 4 X55W Power Compact setup to 4 X 39W T5s via an IceCap 660 ballast. At first it would sound like I've actually down-graded my lighting; but that ballast supposedly over-drives the 39W bulbs to 60W. My impressions are that the T5s (with individual reflectors) give off noticebly more light than my PCs. I haven't taken any actual measurements, so this is based purely on appearance (which is not the same as "useable" light). The T5s also seem to give off less heat, but not significantly. I've also heard that T5 bulbs do not need to be changed as often as PCs, but I don't know if anybody has actually done the tests to prove that.

When planning my upgrade, I originally wanted to go with metal halides but my canopy wouldn't allow it and so far I'm happy with the alternative.

I do have a few medium-light corals (Xenia, Frogspawn and Candy Cane) and they seem to be doing well under this new lighting. You did mention that you wanted an anemone and possibly corals down the road...As NaClFinatic mentioned, it's not a good idea to mix motile inverts (anemone) with corals as the anemone can actually move and harm the corals.
Hope this helps,

Jason