Lighting questions

[sailfin tang]

I have an 80 gallon bow front 48"
I still have the original hood that came with the tank, 2 48' lights no fan.
I upgraded the original bulbs to 40 watt 6500k.
As I get my reef tank going it sounds like I better upgrade...but to what??
I want anemonies, feather dusters, maybe some easier corals, and a few community fish with shrimp and a clean-up crew.
Anyway to get by with stronger bulbs for the hood I have?
Would a pc like this work better or is it even brighter than what I have?
Wattage: 2 x 65W
No./Color Temp: 2-SmartPaq 10,000K/460nm
No. of Lunar Lights: 2 (with separate power supply)
Fan: Yes (with separate power supply
No. of Switches: 1 (for PC bulbs)?
Do I have to spend the larger dollars on a metal halide?
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[autofreak44]

for anemones, most def you will need metal halides... the only lights that i think are comparable to metal halides are t-5s and they dont penetrate deep enough for your tank
imo a 2x250 hqi 14k fixture would be perfect for that tank. you may have to buy a chiller though
Dallas

 

[johndodd]

I have a similar question. We have a 90g tank that is FOWLR right now but we'd like to add corals later. We also plan on upgrading to a larger tank, maybe 150g, next year so we'd like to get good lights that we could continue to use if possible. Any suggestions?
Thanx
jdd

 

[jonthefishguy]

80 gallon divided by 80 watts = 1 watt per gallon. You need a safe minimum of 3.5 watts per gallon to sustain soft corals and POSSIBLE an anemone (only if you pace him at the very top of somewhere in the tank that he can absorb lots of light). Your next idea of using the 130 watt, not a good idea either. 130 divided by 80 gallons is 1.625. so no to that either. In order to make 3.5 watts per gallon, you would have to get 280 watts. Problem is that the light systems arent just 280. they are usualy a bit higher or lower. So you will have to shop around to find one that fits your needs. Also, 65,000k bulb is more of a plant bulb and not really sustainable but to hold coral. you need 10,000k, 14,000k or higher. You will grow algae with the 65k.