Lighting my Tank without Burning my Wallet!

The lighting is a huge decision....ughhhhhhhh... I am getting more confused by the minute...

So... It will be a reef tank with all types of coral and some fish... I really want to give this the best possible lighting for blooms, etc.

It seems cheaper to buy multiple lights than 1 - 72"... whatever the case... I still am searching

Helllllllpppp! :)
 
you want to minimize LR contact with the air to have the most life on it. 2/3 will work too, just so you can be able to return the rock to the water asap, and don't forget to have a heater in there too.
 
as for the lighting, you want a fixture that fits your tank. can you tell us what exactly are you wanting to keep in terms of coral and what type of light types were you considering.

also is this your first SW or reef tank?
 
Markushka said:
as for the lighting, you want a fixture that fits your tank. can you tell us what exactly are you wanting to keep in terms of coral and what type of light types were you considering.

also is this your first SW or reef tank?
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I have been out of sw since about 1986... I hadn't even heard of a sump at that time...

I am considering keeping a variety of really good looking corals and as for fish... again, a variety that will cohabitate together well... none of this is decided yet...

What I have decided... is to do a reef tank :) and I hope that I bought the best live rock and sand I could get... the rest will come in time...

I do understand what you are asking... I just don't know yet.

Thanks so much for your consideration :)

I know that wasn't too helpful.
 
Did help a bit, since '86 (though thats a few years before my time) there has been quite a lot of change to the hobby. we are now able to keep a lot more organisms in our tanks that were impossible back then. also the concepts on 'nano' and 'pico' reefs has been overturned. in fact we are now able to keep smaller systems (even as small as under a gallon) where we can have organisms thriving that were impossible back then.

lets put it this way, If you want to do it right the first time and want to keep things like acropora and millepora and other small polyped stony corals I'd go with a Metal Halide setup. or if your feeling adventurous building a LED set up. with these you'll be able to keep the greatest diversity of coral. with t5ho you could try sps but they may not do the best.
 
Check on ebay with a seller named TopDogSellers... I just bought 2 fixtures from him at a great price and am VERY happy with them.
 
fishiefishie said:
Check on ebay with a seller named TopDogSellers... I just bought 2 fixtures from him at a great price and am VERY happy with them.
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LOL I have bought from them also, very happy.

With a six foot tank you could run LED on one end and halide on the other, with some t5 supplementation. Then you can move corals around to where they like it.
 
It all depends on what you plan on keeping. If you're going with lps corals, t5 would be fine. If going with sps, probably need to upgrade to metal halide. LEDs are still super expensive. You might want to go with combo mh and t5. You could probably get away with just t5 but you would need an s- load of bulbs to cover a 150 gal tank.
Put it this way, I have a 100g sw tank and I'm on my third set of lighting. StArted with pc, went to vho and now have t5. I'm only keeping some polyps and lps. So I would suggest doing it once and doing it right the first time.
 
If I'm looking for cheap equipment, no better place than to look at reef forums or craigslist. Even Hydroponic stores are cheaper than most aquarium specialty retailers when it comes to high-powered lighting.

After spending the last year growing corals for resale and for personal tanks, I steer most people towards T5HO, I like the results and like how cool they run and the ease of being able to integrate them into most hoods.
 
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