What lighting do i need?

[hnf2k]

i went to a few lfs stores to check out what i would need for lighting on my tank. i have a standard 180 gallon tank(72 x 24 x 24). one place said that 4 x 55 power compacts will be enough. another place said that it isn't enough and that i need 4 x 96. i can get 8 x 55 cheaper than i can get 4 x 96, should i do that? any info at all will help a lot. i dont wanna spend too much money on lighting because it isn't going to be a full reef tank, but it iwll have a few pieces of coral. you can see the corals i have now in my sig. thank you

 

[slothy]

well your open brain requires medium to high light... i would shoot for the 4 X 96
8 x 55 ? u got room for that ?

 

[hnf2k]

i have no clue if i have room or not, i was just saying.

 

[hnf2k]

also, slothy, do you know any specifc sites or brands that i should buy? my lfs would give me a deal on 2 36" JBJ fixtures(each with 2 x 96) for 550 bucks. that a good price?

 

[a&m aggie 04']

i was wondering the same thing, do you have room?? still with the 8-55s you'll only be pushing out 440 watts. For some of the corals to really do well you're going to need more.

 

[hnf2k]

i probably dont have room, i was just saying. but is that a good price 2 JBJ 36" 2 x 96 units?

 

[jim672]

HNF2K,
Check out www.reeffanatic.com in their lighting section. Those were the best prices I found for mh/vho combo hoods. www.hellolights.com also has some good stuff.
You'll probably want to shoot for at least 4 to 6 watts per gallon, and that could be low for the open brain. Might want to consider something like 3 175w MH with 2 160 w VHO actinics. That gives you about 5 watts per gallon for around $900. Of course, 3 250w MH's would be better at 6 watts per gallon.....
Jim

 

[hnf2k]

nooo, i dont have 900 bucks to burn like this. 500 dollar max.

 

[jim672]

Used ? ----?

 

[slothy]

ive seen 36" jbj's sell for 240 each (new)... so 550 is high

 

[lordofthereef]

you would have plenty of room for the 8 55w bulbs, but it won't cover the whole tank! your 180 gallon tank is 2 feet from front to back right? if so, just go with 8 to 10 six foot n.o. lights and call it a day if all you want is mushrooms and leathers. that will be just fine for that. if you don't believe me, then go to garf.org and see for yourself what they use for lighting.

 

[hnf2k]

lordofthereef, sorry for the dumb questions, but
i went to that site and couldnt find their lighting
and
what is n.o. lighting?

 

[lordofthereef]

n.o. lighting is normal output. just like vho is very high out put, and ho is high output. just search around on the site and you will see what their lighting is. all they use is pretty much normal output lighting.