new tank coming

[sonicboom1]

Upgrading from my 29gallon to either a 75 gallon or 90 gallon very soon. What is a good amount of lighting for basically fish, live rock, live sand, soft corals such as zoos?
All my current money is going into hardware, 1st skimmer and such then once I have money I will buy my lighting and for Christmas I get the actual tank..so the sooner I start the more money I can invest in rocks and such
Thanks.

 

[jdragunas]

you really need to have about 4 watts of light per gallon, but ideally, 5-7. for a 75 gallon tank, you need a minimum of 300 watts total for most corals. You can get away with 2 watts/gallon if you only want polyps and mushrooms, which is a 150 watt system. The best thing to get is a power compact with dual ballasts and 2 plugs. This way, you can get actinics, and 10,000k or 12,000k daylight bulbs, and simulate the dawn-to-dusk effect. This is probably most cost-efficient too, as MH systems are really expensive. They also have these systems that come with lunar lights as well.
Hope this helps. If you need anything else, just lemme know!
Jenn