Yes you can, if you choose your corals carefully. Jake Adams has some suggestions.
There are many conditions under which corals can be kept under T8 fluorescent lighting. Keep non-photosynthetic corals such as Tubastrea (pictured above), Balanophyllia and Dendrophyllia species which require a weekly feeding of small meaty morsels.
It is still possible to keep all species of photosynthetic corals under T8 lighting as long as we know the limits of our lighting and have realistic expectations for the rate at which corals grow under reduced lighting.
In addition to generous water flow and feeding regularly, when trying to grow corals under T8 fluorescent lighting the aquarist should seek to optimise the performance and PAR output of his or her lamps.
Warmer coloured lamps will usually emit more PAR per watt, an efficient electronic ballast should be employed to maximise lamp output, every lamp should be coupled with a reflector and, where possible, the fluorescent lamps should be as close to the water surface as possible.
Although you may not be popular for handing out SPS frags left and right, there are still plenty of corals that will live and thrive, and sometimes even look better when put under normal output fluorescent lighting.
Most zoanthids, corallimorphs and leather corals should feel at home in a moderate light reef and many LPS such as disc corals, brain corals and even Acanthastrea lordhowensis should do really well under a few banks of T8 lights.
Although keeping corals in reef tanks lit exclusively with T8 fluorescents might seem out of place today, not that long ago the best reefs were lit exclusively with less efficient T12 fluorescent lights.
This article was first published in the Christmas 2009 issue of Practical Fishkeeping magazine. It may not be reproduced without written permission.