lighting question

[jennsimm]

Well, I have painted my tank stand and hood, have the tank in the house and will be mixing up the salt tomorrow. The one thing I have not gotten is my lighting. The tank didnt come with a lighting system at all, so I have to start new. I was looking on the auction site, and found some satellite 65 or 130 watt strip lights. Would these be good for me? If so, which one? I am only having FO with lr and ls. Please educate me on this, or give ideas on what you would use. I really like the effect of the 24 hr lighting system I have read about. The moonlights look really neat. Please help! Oh...the tank is 2x2 square.
TIA!
Jenn:help:

 

[snipe]

Well if it is gonna be FOWLR for real and you are not gonna have any type of living thing that needs lights you can use reg Flourecent lights with 50/50 bulbs. You can get them pretty cheap a place local has them for $1 for a 4 foot light.

 

[andretti]

If you're just doing a fish only tank, the lights you mentioned will be more that enough. But later on, you may decide you want corals and/or anemones. If that's the case, you will need about 4-5 watts of output per gallon. So if you have a 50 gallon tank, you'll need 250 watts of lighting. This is just a guideline to go by. Let's say your tank is still 50 gallons, but it's a 50 tall. Then you're talking about metal hilides, which are quite a bit more $$ than power compacts or VHOs. The reason you need more powerful lighting with the taller tank is because the light spectrum has to go further down into the water