I Need MASSIVE HELP w/ Lighting

[reef dude]

hi, if anyone can help me or give any suggestions about lighting, i would greatly appreciate it.
Right now i have a 90 gal. tank with a 4" DSB and thats it. As for lights, i have just the 2 plain old 40 watt bulbs that came with the tank.. Obviously that will not work for corals but i was thinking something along the lines of getting VHO light fixtures(is there such a thing?) and just using 4 VHO bulbs(actinic and 50/50) would that work, and how much?? where can i buy???
thanks

 

[b.b.bigbrother]

What do you mean light fixtures? already to go , I've only seen 2 bulb bst bet is to make something and get retro kit. Cheapest way,but on the other hand if you buy 2 seperate you can shut one off at a time to simulate dusk to dawn do a search on vho lighting tons of discusions on it. try <a people say best prices i saw double bulb full fixtures at drfoster and smith or type in petwarehouse should bring you there. I know someone bought 4 bulb then wanted to know how to simulate dusk to dawn and bummed when they found out they could'nt you need to get two 50/50 and two daylight bulbs or two blue atinic and two daylight get higher watage since you have deep tank, not sure what they come in but if you whant corals the more light the better. i have two power compact and was going to get vho but know i think i'll just get another pc. Very difficult to decide on lighting all depends on what you have for money read before you buy. If you have the money and are serios about staying with it you may want to think about metal halide and 2 vho. Remember bulbs on vho only last 6/8 months just so you know hope i could help.

 

[reef dude]

Thanks BB. Yea unfortunately i dont have 600 bucks to be spending on light bulbs..
i have some research to do....

 

[david s]

Dave If you go vho its best lights for low budget its like 200 bucs <a href="http://www.hellolights.com/4654lamvhore.html" target="_blank">http://www.hellolights.com/4654lamvhore.html</a> and you can keep almost everything with them

 

[teog]

i too have a 90 gallon tank. Im running 4x95vho and 2x96pc...so running a total 572 watts...I figure I have spent around $350-400 in lighting...

 

[reef dude]

OK, lets say i buy a 4 lamp VHO kit. how does it mount on top of my tank?? What if they dont fit on my tank?

 

[wolffam]

If you have a canopy, the lights mount to that. If no canopy, you might have to buy or build one. Or you can buy a canopy top. Most companies that sell these sell for all tyoes of aquarium sizes. Measure the length of the tank so that you know which ones you'll need. HTH

 

[volitan]

If you don't have a wooden canopy you can make some covers for the bulbs. This is going to sound pretty redneck, but go buy a couple of 4 foot sections of plastic rain guttering (with caps. you can put small holes in the caps to run wires through and clip the bulbs to the inside of the guttering with coralife bulb clips. You can paint the guttering to match the stand or whatever. A friend of mine did it, and it really ended up looking pretty professional. Good luck!