Lighting Confusion!!

[thakr21]

Ok I am new as we all can tell. I hear everyone talking about lighting and what they need or got and I just keep getting more and more confused by it all. I have 2 Coralife 10,000 K, 360' OutPut, 24 inch., 20 watt, Fluorescent Bulbs. These things any good? Im thinking they arent. And if they aren't what is good. I have a 55 gal. Tank. With around 50lbs LR with no coral, but want to start getting some. Can someone get me straightened out please? Thank you,

 

[full of questions]

W@hat type of coral do you wish to have,some like a lot
and some are low light,but regardless they are all some
what expensive,for good ones anyway's.

 

[thakr21]

Im not really sure quite yet. But how about the lights i have now. Are they any good?

 

[eelfreakrobi]

nop, I was very confuse at the beginning to but hopefully I can help, you have fluorescent which are only good for fish, there are some kits that can fit many different fluorscent tubes which is called VHO, but I woiuld not recommend them, then another type of lighting is Power Compact, these are 2 fluorescnet bulbs in one which is good, they give more spectrum and are better for corals except for clams and lps, and last but not least another type of lighting is metal halide, with these you can keep just about any coral but are very expensive and generate a lot of heat that can cause temperature to rise.
Watts is important the more the better, if you want to keep corals the general rule of thumb is about4-5 watts per gallon, which means if you want Power Compact you need about 260 watts for most corals except lps or clams, And need actinic lamps for power compact and fluorescent, metal halide does not require them but make the tank look nice. Any questions? Im sure you still have a lot of doubts.

 

[thakr21]

Ok, yea that helped get to figure out that my lights i have suck. These lights that u are refering to: Do they come as just bulbs or what? Because on my tank it came with a hood and lights. Sounds like to me I should create my own covering for the tank. Also, where could I find these lights? I know for a fact that the local pet stores in my area do not have them.

 

[eelfreakrobi]

you really dont have to make a hood if you buy a system that has already the hood, but if you buy a retrofit kit which might come less expensive than hood systems, (BTW, retrofits are kits are the light system but you have to assemble them, they come by pieces), your local fish store might sell them especially the ones that sell corals(duh) so ask about them but I guarantee you that the prices they will give will be more expensive than ones in the websites, for online shops I cant help you out because they dont want me mentioning shops since saltwaterfish.com is a store, but if you do a search on other threads that talk about online shops to buy lights you might find some. Also try to look in other search engines.