Need some advice on lighting..

[g-man]

I am 4+ weeks into cycling a 25 gallon tank and getting ready to get some better lighting.. (Trying to keep it inexpensive)
I am considering getting a fixture from Home Depot and buying 2 full spectum bulbs.. is this sufficient?
I was told that I absolutely needed to have actintic lighting?
What is my best/cheapest solution?
Currently I have a few fish, snails, crabs and some macro algae..
THanks for any advice..
G-man

 

[hondo]

cheap lighting for a 25g if you have a canopy for the tank would be a workhorse 7 ballast DIY VHO set up. do a search on the DIY forum and you'll see just how easy it is. The ballast will run you about $45 - $50 and end caps are around $9 per set. doesn't get much cheaper than that. you could run 2 75w VHO bulbs and be all set for any soft or LPS corals you wanted to keep.

 

[g-man]

Currently Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, Alkalinity are all registering at ideal or safe levels. Amonia has dropped to less than .50 on the test kit I have. (down from 8.0+ at peak)
Salinity is at 1.022
I started with a deep sandbed as well as using some live sand.
I would like to add some coral so I want to make sure I get the right lights.
Currently I have a UV bulb that came with a cheap hood. The Macro algae seems to be growing alright with this light, but it's not near the brightness I would like to have.
I have a Percula clown, a Yellow tailed damsel and a three striped damsel. I moved these fish into the 25 from a little 5 gallon that I started 4-5 months ago.. The 5 gal. does alright, just time to move up a bit.. The fish and the algae seem to be doing well in the new tank. I also have some fast growing "leather coral" that seems to be doing alright.. (I was told it is the "weed" of corals, very hard to kill)

 

[col]

What is my best/cheapest solution?

Aahh, my favourite question.

 

[g-man]

I've found a hood online:
23" Aluminum Power Compact Light with 2 - 55 watt bulbs. It comes with 1x10000K white and 1xBlue Actinic bulbs. (You can pick from 50/50 (blue/10k white), 50/50 (red/10k white) or 50/50 (red/blue) if you'd rather have any of those bulbs.
see attached pic..
Watt is less than recommended, specs say it is designed for 25 gal..
thoughts on this one??
Thanks for your advice!
Amonia keeps dropping, thanks for the tip on Salinity
G-man

 

[nacl-man]

Originally posted by col
Aahh, my favourite question.
yeah, nothing good happens cheap or quickly in this hobby.