[Roady]

I have a power compact fixture on the way and the total watts for the system will be 130, is that enough to start putting some types of coral and anemones in my tank (40gal)? It would be around 3watts/gal.

[thelastmucci]

I believe and I could be wrong of course that to sustain soft and anemones you can use 3 watts per gallon. However to thrive you should be looking at around 4-5 per gallon. On top of that if you did get 4-5 then you could keep sps and lps. But please don't take my word for it research it that's the best way to learn anything in this hobby.

[WILLIAM1]

I dont think 3 watts a gollon would be sufficant enough light to handle an anemone. Heres a page that has some lighting answers for ya.
Vivid Aquariums Tropical Fish Store in Los Angeles - Aquarium Lighting Section

[Lowej82]

Here is a light guide that I Found here on reef builders, I found it helpful

High light - light loving animals throughout the tank, from the top of the tank to the bottom, clams on the bottom of the tank.
Medium light - Light loving animals at the top of the tank, lower light required species at the bottom.
Low light - Really, a softy tank. Maybe a few montis or LPS up top, and very low light animals at the bottom of the tank.

High light--
18 inch deep tank or less 150 HQI/175 MH plus supplemental lights per 2 square feet.
24 inch deep tank or less 250 W MH plus supp. lights per 2 square feet.
more than 24 inches 400W or greater per 2 square feet.

If using T-5's, as many T-5's lights as will fit across the tank (Probably need 8 T-5's spanning the full tank)

Medium Light --
18 - VHO/PC @ minimum of 6W per gallon or 70w MH/poor PAR 150/175, no supp.
24 - 150/175W MH or approx. 4 T-5's spanning the tank
>24 - 250W MH or approx 6 T-5's spanning tank
Low light --
18 - normal output Fluorescents over tank (ie 4 40W fluo. over 55 gallon tank)
24 - VHO/PC's no more than 3 or 4 watts per gallon (4 65W PC's over 90 gallon tank)
>24 - same as 24 inch tank above.

hope that helps you a little

[NATIVEVAMAN]

With regards to the above list I would say that for mh lighting he recomends far to much in all instances.
In the case of no flourescents,I know of no one using thse lights outside of freshwater applications.
In the case of t5 maunufactured fixtures(one reflector for all bulbs).He is recomending to much.In the case of t5 vho you could move 4 or 6 bulb units up into the high light catagory.
I would recomend not mixing high and low light critters in the same tank,and tha caution should be used when mixing medium and high light or low and medium light critters in the same tank.
There was a time when mh lights were the only game in town but thats not the case anymore.As far as light reaching the bottom of the tank vho t5 is on an equal footing with metal halide without the heat or high electricity bills.And they wont cause you to need a bunch of fans or a chiller.MH is old technology gone the way of wash boards and carburators.