For starters, for your information regarding the differences between different types of bulbs, this article is rather useful:
http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Light-Bulb-Comparison/29/
Next up is a series of post from Aquatic-Eden. There are a few of them to read, but I promise they are worth it and well written:
http://www.aquatic-eden.com/search/label/light
Within one of the blog entries from the above link, comes an article about Amano's lighting entitled "Lighting as a Function of Tank Size". You can review it here:
http://www.fitchfamily.com/lighting.html
From that we get that you should aim for about 240 watts.
And finally, my thoughts: Ultimately you get what you pay for. We all have the urge to go cheap, but the truth is, if you want a high light/high tech tank, and go cheap the first time, you'll only be replacing later down the line...at which time you will have nearly doubled your investment when if in the beggining you could have saved just a little more. Currently I use 6500k CFL's. The problem with these is that they are only about 86% efficient at getting the light to the tank, so I'm wasting 14% of my wattage. My other complaint is that they only come in color temperatures up to 6500k. I would prefer a 10000k bulb.
For these reasons, I am currently in the process of upgrading to ahsupply lights, and therefore recommend them. 4 65w would be nice for you, however:
I also have started to like how metal halides look over a tank, but I hate the way they grow plants. Therefore, when I myself upgrade to a 125g or larger, I plan to consider a combination of power compacts(such as the ahsupply kits) and metal halides. MH are expensive.
Final thought: if you want high light, go with an ahsuppy kit. If you are ok with low-med light, get some shop lights from homedepot and use the GE 9325 bulb.
http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Light-Bulb-Comparison/29/
Next up is a series of post from Aquatic-Eden. There are a few of them to read, but I promise they are worth it and well written:
http://www.aquatic-eden.com/search/label/light
Within one of the blog entries from the above link, comes an article about Amano's lighting entitled "Lighting as a Function of Tank Size". You can review it here:
http://www.fitchfamily.com/lighting.html
From that we get that you should aim for about 240 watts.
And finally, my thoughts: Ultimately you get what you pay for. We all have the urge to go cheap, but the truth is, if you want a high light/high tech tank, and go cheap the first time, you'll only be replacing later down the line...at which time you will have nearly doubled your investment when if in the beggining you could have saved just a little more. Currently I use 6500k CFL's. The problem with these is that they are only about 86% efficient at getting the light to the tank, so I'm wasting 14% of my wattage. My other complaint is that they only come in color temperatures up to 6500k. I would prefer a 10000k bulb.
For these reasons, I am currently in the process of upgrading to ahsupply lights, and therefore recommend them. 4 65w would be nice for you, however:
I also have started to like how metal halides look over a tank, but I hate the way they grow plants. Therefore, when I myself upgrade to a 125g or larger, I plan to consider a combination of power compacts(such as the ahsupply kits) and metal halides. MH are expensive.
Final thought: if you want high light, go with an ahsuppy kit. If you are ok with low-med light, get some shop lights from homedepot and use the GE 9325 bulb.
