Lighting In A Fish Only Tank

[skeetrix]

Hi,
I have a 40 gallong fowlr tank. The tank is pretty settled, and ive had the same fluorescent light that it came with thwne i bought the tank. I really want to change the lighting to give some new life ( and algal growth) to the tank. My local fish store carries 3 brands of "coralife" lights. a natural light, a 1/2 natural 1/2 blue light, and a 100% blue light. from your experiences, what do you suggest??

 

[eg_hatch]

For fish only tanks, I like the 20,000 K bulb, try and look for that one.. and the only type of algae you want is coralline algae, and youll need the right calcium levels so itll spread, good water circulation, and maybe a protein skimmer to prevent the badder algaes from appearing.

 

[einnaws]

Is there anyway you could post a pic of your 40 gal FOWLR? I'm planning on starting one up and was curious about how it looks. Also I am very curious about the filtration you use, filters seems to be very expensive and i don'twant to buy things that i don't need.
I understand i'm asking a lot but if you could shed a little light for me it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[ohioreef]

I have a FOWLR tank and a NO light hood. I am using 1 Coralife 10000K and 1 Coralife Actinic 03 blue bulb in it.
The tank looks really nice that way.

 

[daniel411]

It really comes down to personal preference. Although pure atinic/blue isn't common. Generally people get the 50/50's day/atinic-blue. However if you want a brighter tank, or less blue than go ahead and get the full daylight bulbs. Its likely that 50/50's will come with it though.
EinNaws,
What do you plan on keeping?

 

[einnaws]

so far me and my girlfriend have decided on clowns, a gobie, a chromis, some invertabraes. We are thinking about using LR and LS. We are just starting out with saltwater tanks and i am curious about what kind of filtration i need to have before i go out and buy the wrong things.