lighting help

[tuckerthecat]

I'm getting a 85 gallon acrylic hex flat back tank ( 48x18x24 ), I was going to stock my tank with about 50lbs of live rock & wanted to eventually add some coral & possibly a giant clam. I've read that MH is the only way to go for clams but I really dont want to deal with the heating issue that comes with MH. I was thinking of getting a CustomSeaLife PowerCompact/Moon-Lite it has 4 65watt bulbs that would come with 2- 10,000K Ultra Daylight and 2 - Actinic Blue, does anyone have any comment on this lighting set up & could anyone tell me if this lighting set up would be good for corals in my size tank? Also how much would I be limiting myself in terms of what types of coral, clams & anemones I could stock in my tank in the future. Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated.
oh btw my user name is the name of my cat ( a 20lb very curius maine coon cat ) so I would need a closed canopy top further limiting MH I would imagine.
thnx much

 

[aarone]

With PCs you could keep all softies, and some LPS. I have the same fixture but only 2 65w. The most advanced coral i have is a frogspawn. Go with the MH if possible. You can keep ANYTHING.
aaron

 

[reefnut]

First off WELCOME to SWF.COM
Second, with 4-65w PC your going to be on the lower end of medium lighting... If you could get the 4-96w PC unit that would be better!
Do you have a canopy? VHOs is good lighting for a 48" tank IMO.
For corals, with the 4-65w you would be good with softies and lower light LPS and lower light anemones but not clams or light demanding anemones...

 

[tuckerthecat]

Thanks for the input guys. I still havent purchased the tank stand or canopy. ( just pretty sure I'll be getting a tenecor 85 gallon flat back hex with stand & canopy ) If I do get that set-up there is no way I can afford MH lights as my budget will be pretty much shot as it is. I also am pretty sure MH lights will need a custom canopy where as the 4x65watt lights I was thinking about getting should fit under the tenecor canopy ( I hope ). Anyone have experience with tenecor tanks?, they seem like a very nice set up. I'm very new to the hobby so any critique of my set-up would be much appreciated. I was going to get the tenecor reef ready set up with built in over flows & wet/dry filter, adding a sump ( 20 gallon ) with a euroreef ES5-3 skimmer & the 4/65watt lighting system I mentioned earlier. Do you think this set-up will need any additional poweheads for circulation? Please let me know what you think of this set-up, is there anything I might be over looking or am I on the right track.
jay