75gal Lighting

[rjyj]

I am looking at getting some lights for my 75g and was searching around but am having a hard time determing what is good and what isnt. I cant afford Metal Halides right now so I was looking at the PowerCompacts. How much watts would I need to keep some corals. I am not sure exactly which ones but some of the nice ones. Could I use a 265watt powercompact? What is another inexpensive lighting as in under $150 for a 75Gal that wont limit me to much? Thanks new to the hobby and have be bitten hard just cant afford it all at once

 

[superh]

You may want to consider piecing your lighting together. A 150 watt clamp-on MH is about $200 and will light half your tank until you can get another one for the other side.
I used to have 130 watt PC watts on a 38g, and they were nice, but the MH seems more like natural sunlight.
Here's what my 75g tank looks like with a 150 watt MH on one side:

 

[acrylic51]

Before settling on PC, why not look at the T5's.....a heck of a lot better than PC's IMO.

 

[rjyj]

I was thinking of T5's but I dont know what kind of wattage I need to be looking for. What is a good wattage for T5's or a PC or even MH's? I am clueless as to what is a good lighting and what isnt. Thanks for the help.

 

[mrdsmack]

I think that in a 4 foot bulb the T5 comes in 54w. Im curently installing 6 of these on my wifes 120.

 

[rabid frog]

You may just want to save until you can afford MH's. Once you start keeping corals your going to want Mh's. Eventually.
On my 75 I run 2- 250 watts mh's and 2 super attinic vho's. I tried the pc route too and it just did not work out for me. It is easier to save some extra cash and buy all the light you'll ever need, than to buy a pc set up and then buy a mh set up after you figure out what you want to keep. You most likely will not get your money back out of the pc's. Coral frags have already payed for my Mh's. just something to think about.

 

[dragonzim]

I just put a 6 bulb T5 fixture on my 75 and I can now keep anything I want in there. It's a Tek fixture. If you look around you may be able to find one used, which is what I did. They sell new for about $330 or so but I got mine for $200