yet, another lighting question...

[defntleymaybe79]

I just want to know a couple things about lighting for my 20 gallon tall tank, your standard eclipse model:
1. How many watts should I have?
2. What type of lighting does it exactly need?
3. Where can i find a hood that will house them?
I plan on doing a reef tank with corals.... and a couple of fish.
Thanks

 

[defntleymaybe79]

Will blue actinic lighting have any impact on a 5-55 gallon tank, or does it make the water a pretty blue color? I've seen blue actinic "marine glo" 15, 20 watts for real cheap and i question the quality.

 

[dacia]

Exactly what kind of corals do you want---softies & LPS or SPS? Different types of corals need different types of lights. Do you plan on keeping anemones or clams?

 

[defntleymaybe79]

right now i'm looking to do a soft coral, sps and perhaps, just maybe 1 anemone

 

[dacia]

Then I would look into metal halide lighting. I would think that 1 250W bulb plus 1 actinic PC bulb should be sufficient. You can get that in a complete hood from some places. Do a google search for metal halide aquarium lighting...if we post the names of other sites here, the post will be deleted.

 

[defntleymaybe79]

Whats the ballpark cost of sufficient lighting that I'm looking at right now and will i necessarily need to replace the whole hood?