Lighting Suggestions

SpecailEd · 10-21-2005, 02:51 AM

Ok guys,
I've gotten some cash and im wanting to upgrade my lighting.. However this is the one area of my tank i feel is really lacking. Right now I have fluorescents over my 75 gallon tank, and i need some suggestions on where to go from here, my tank has been up for 2 years, with about 150 lbs of live rock, and healthy live stock, mininal corals, mainly mushrooms, galaxia, polyps.. fish include mated maroon clowns in their carpet anemone, niger trigger, hawk fish, banded coral shrimp, Ive been having some small alge build up, dark green and small, resulting in having to get an urchin.. anyways i was hoping to get some direction here!

skennelly · 10-21-2005, 05:17 AM

It really depends on what types of corals you plan on getting in the future. If you are planning on sps and lps corals then you should go for a metal halide system and maybe supplement VHO actinics. For a 75 I would guess 2 175 watt MH and 2 110 watt VHO would be good lighting for just about anything you would want to keep.

Another alternative would to go with all VHO if you don't want MH. 4 x 110 watt VHO with an Ice Cap Ballast would also be a good setup for a 75, you could keep most corals.

IMO

Diver_1298 · 10-21-2005, 11:11 AM

If you do upgrade your lighting, remember to acclimate the corals that you have. They are not used to intense lighting, and you could shock them by turning on twice the lighting

Consider some lighting that you can live with as far as price goes. Compact flourescent (PC) are relatively inexpensive and with the right combination of bulbs you can really make your tank look nice.
There are many corals that are easy to take care of that look stunning and do not require 2000000000 billion watts of metal halides

Jim