Remedial Lighting Questions

[TAFKARojo]

Hi, I have been reading dozens of links and articles about lighting. And I have a few basic questions.

1. Could someone explain what the components of a light fixtures are and what they do? I seem to be lost in all the abbreviations and technical talk.

2. What kind of light set up would I need on a 55g to keep anemone's?

Thanks
Chris

 

[VDub90]

Pretty much you have 2 parts of a fixture a ballast, and bulb/tube. Flourescent/metal halides, pretty much any high output light needs a ballast. The ballast takes your home voltage 120V and pumps it up to sometimes as high as 3000V for a split second to "fire" the bulb. Flourescent tubes are filled with gas and need a huge voltage to ignite the gas. So basically you have your power cord that goes to the ballast, then the ballast to the bulb.