Help me decide on lighting, please.... : )

[valval1029]

Hi,

It's been fun getting to learn from all of your great advice.... OK, lights.... What should I buy?

I am planning a 90 gallon overflow tank with live rock, a couple of anemones (later), and mostly fish... Not sure about corals, etc- maybe some... Once again, Mostly fish & live rock.... Also, depending on what fish, corals, anemones, other invertebrates or compatible. Right now (in different tank of fish only) I have a hippo tang, french angel, 2 clowns, anthias, royal gramma, and green reef fish... I plan to move these to the 90 gallon.

I've heard a little about compact fluorescent (bright enough???), MH, and VHOs.... I really don't want to spend a fortune here if possible--- so I WON'T say, "Money is no object!"

Then depending on the lighting, will I need a glass top or not?

A LFS guy said the VHO is good and is about 400 watts, I think?

I was looking at compact... maybe it's not enough light though...

I appreciate your help so I can purchase the correct thing, when I am ready!

[mogurnda]

The problem with a 90 is that it is 2 feet deep, but relatively narrow, so getting light to the bottom is problematic. For my 90, I installed two 250 watt metal halides and two 58 watt T5 (skinny) fluorescent actinics. The halides get lots of light all the way to the bottom, and the actinics add a bit more of the blue spectrum (for appearance as much as photosynthesis). I chose T5s rather than PC or VHO because they deliver more light per watt than any other style of fluorescent if you use a good reflector. It was still cheaper to retrofit the existing canopy with a couple of halides, though, rather than go with T5 completely. Plus, because metal halides are more of a point source, you get very pretty shimmer lines from the ripples on the surface.

As with any other aspect of your plan, a lot depends on your firm plans for the tank. If you skip the anemone and go with only fish and live rock, a couple of PCs or VHOs will make the fish look great. If you want to go with photosynthetic creatures, then I vote for metal halide for a tank that deep.

[valval1029]

What are moonlights?

[mogurnda]

They are blue LEDs that some companies put in their hoods for night time viewing. Some people love them, I've always worried that it would mess up the animals' cycles, because they see blue very well.

[valval1029]

That's interesting... so people just leave them on all night?...

Does anyone else know whether this disrupts the fish's cycle at night/whether they can see them?

It would be interesting to see, but I don't know if I would buy them...