Lighting, what to buy?

[physcoben]

Hello, my name is Ben and I have had a 90 gal. tank setup for about 9 months now. The tank is 2.5 ft deep and so far i've stuck with what it came with. Two 40 watt bulbs, a marine and power glow. They have done the job so far but I am running live rock and the coraline algae is growing really really slow. So now I'm looking into Higher wattage systems. With my tank being so deep I know I need it. But is there such a thing as too much wattage? What kind of bulbs/setup would work good for me? And in asking I would like you to know that I am looking into putting live coral and such in the future. So this would be a perminent thing for my tank. Could anyone please help me? <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Well, i guess most importantly...how much are you willing to spend? Gold standard reef lighting for your tank would prolly be 2 250 watt Metal Halids and a pair of actinic VHO's, that would probably give you the most options in the future but cost you the most as well. ~700 watts of light for 90 gallons is about 7.75 watts/gal.....you can keep anything under that. You could go all VHO, or just MH, or PC...ect. You've got many different options over a wide price range. My advice would be to check out a few sites on the Net that will explain Reef lighting. They will tell you about Kelvin bulb temps, what type of organisms need what, ect. Also, you can find deals on ---- if your lucky... GL on your choices

 

[q]

I also think that 2 250W MH and 2 VHO would be a prety good set-up. Might want to look into HQI if you want a bit more out put.
But if you don't want sps corals then things get a lot simpler. What do you want to keep in the tank?

 

[goofyreefer]

I was just pricing out lighting for my brother's 55 and I was looking at 4-110 watt VHo,s so far i priced out the best i could at $25300 shipped

 

[richard rendos]

I would say it depends on corals you plan to keep, but personally I would go with either 2 X 400 watt MH, or 2 X 250 watt MH with 2 X 110 watt VHO actinic.

 

[wolffam]

Determine what the lighting requirements are of the types of coral you plan onkeeping is. Then based on this, purchase the lighting that meets the requirements. Personally I like the Ice Cap with VHO lamps. HTH