Help!!!

[ems101]

ok... i'm scared
i have had an outbreak of green slime algea for the past month or so. I have talked to ppl including on this site and it seems like the general consensus is that I need more lighting. I'm fine with that. I have a 125G FOWLR and i presently have 2 40W bulbs that came with the tank. I understand that I am way below what I should be at but I figured that I did not have any corals in there so i should be ok for the first little while. I've spent about 3500$ already on equipment.
I just went price shopping for lighting and was suprised to say the least on how rediculously expensive lighting is! the best price i got was $1600 CDN for the canopy and lighting combo. a total of 580 watts... is there ANY OTHER WAY of doing the same job but saving a little bit of money? I'm almost out on the street with my wife here...
Any suggestions would help me and my wallet!!!
THANX

 

[sammyg]

You only need to spend the big bucks if you want to keep corals. If not, then just replace your bulbs with new 10,000K and actinic 03 (or 50/50s) bulbs that work with your existing set up.

 

[ivanfj]

What's the length of your tank??? Is it 6 feet long??? I would go with 2 or 3 MH 250w and make your current bulbs to actinic bulbs for now. And later on, you could do it like magic_carp says there, get any VHO ballast and upgrade the combo to MH-VHO combo. 2 or 3 MH probably gonna cost you around $1000 if you are not buying it online. Online is much cheaper though.
Edit: http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/sh...no=pfo-hrf723v
Check this out and see if you like it. HTH