Change in lighting need advise

[juiced_rl]

I am currently looking into a few different lighting setups for my 55 gal. I want to be able to accomidate for any coral. I was wondering if I where to get one of the VHO retro kits 4 110watt bulbs would that be enough for all corals? I have seen a lot of kits for sale without a reflector is a reflector needed? I assume it would basically enhance the lighting.
Is MH needed for a reef tank I have read that between 4-8 watts per gallon is a good place to be for corals and 440 watts would put me at 8 watts per gallon. I am planning on going to my LFS sometime this weekend and order a canopy and lighting so any advise would be great.
In addition what is a good amount of water flow to have I have right now about 1000 gph running through the tank 3 maxi jet 600's and a HOB filter that sayd 350gph. There are no deads spots that I have found in the tank and a very good amount of water movement on the surface.
In advance that you all.

 

[hurt]

If you wish to keep ANY Coral, I would go with MH. The wattage per bulb you'll need depends upon how deep your tank is.

 

[speg]

If you want ANY corals.. you're gonna need metal halides. Acropora is really gonna need metal halide lighting to do well.. If you can avoid most sps coral then you can go for lesser (cheaper) lighting.
The 'watts per gallon' thing is more of a guideline rather than something you should actually focus on. Like someone else mentioned, you could in theory have a 10000 gallon tank with one 250 watt metal halide and just keep the coral in the metal halides light range. Having a evenly distributed amount of light and learning what kinda wattage you'd need to reach the depth of your tank is way more important.

 

[juiced_rl]

Okay here is the plan. I am buying a canopy and taking apart an older PC fixture I have and using two 65 watt blue actinic bulbs. I am going to get two 250 watt MH retro kits and some moon light LEDs.
Does anyone know where to get the retro kits cheap if so please email me juiced_rl@yahoo.com
How does this setup sound will this be enough to house SPS, hard corals and clams?
I am going to setup the light timing for 12 hours for the actinic PC bulbs and ten hours for the MH lighting.

 

[juiced_rl]

in addition i have a standard 55 gallon and there will be nothing between the lights and the water. I am not sure how tall the canopy is but it should be around 12 inches tall

 

[hurt]

Juiced, 12 inches should be good. Check out the diyreef site for some more info you may need. Two 250's will allow you to keep anything in a 55. I would at least at first, cut back the MH lighting hours to 4 a day, then each week or so add another hour to your schedule. I personally run mine only 8 hours a day, but I'm sure after a while you could run them 10 hours/day.