which lighting?

[pussycat]

my 75gallon fish/invertebrate needs light. the lfs guy ordered them buy they are still not here and it has been a week now. my tank has already gone through its cycle and im afraid bad things are growing due to poor lighting.

i know that i need btwn 225 and 375w and 1 blue actinic and 3 full spectrum lights. But, when i go to a lighting site, it get real confusing, real fast. and what about an electronic ballast with a dimmer/timer? i got all of this from bob fenners book btw.

can anyone here help me out with some specifics cause i think i need to do this myself today.

thanks,

pussycat

[pussycat]

lfs guy said that my tank was just fine since i had just gone through cycling. if i had had my lights on it would have just grown algae. and the shrimp are nocturnal so theyre loving it. lights should be in soon anyway.

sound right?

pussycat

[OrionGirl]

Fish and mobile inverts like crabs, shrimp, snails, etc don't need lighting, certainly not lots of lighting. If there's enough light for you to see, there's enough for them. Corals, anemones, algaes, and such do need lights. There may be some of these things on your live rock, and they may die off without adequate lighting, but the fish and shrimp will be fine.

[pussycat]

thanks so much,

pussycat

[tmace64]

I have a 44 gal pentagon and bought a 175w 10,000k Metal Halide for mine. It gives me almost 4 watts per gallon. I'm not sure if this is a light for you without knowing your plans for marine life in the tank. I truly love this light because it looks and feels just like bright sunlit daylight glimmering down through the water. Everything sparkles and fishes are much more visible,,,, all their details and bright colors. I bought this pendant and modified it with some stove pipe from Lowes,,,,, I used the stove pipe to create a can that focuses the light directly into the tank with no spill over...... Its beautiful..... DONT FORGET to get a mini LED moonlight - if they're not included with your light order. Now those are absolutely beautiful,,,, looks and feels exactly like full moon light at night - stunning !! Most power compact kits and lights come with them already installed.

tod