Best lighting to help live rock grow?

This is my 2nd thread so I am new but can anyone tell me is there a certain type of lighting bulb that helps live rock grow better or faster. I have a 55gallon tank. 45 lb live rock. I am interested in having corals after my tank cycles and right now have one of those 50/50 reef bulbs 35 watt.

 

i would recommend a t5 set up for corals of around 200 watts.
live rock doesnt need lighting to grow or become alive, you may be talking about coraline, i think that grows better under actinic.

 

I would recommend lights that are turned on! Go reasonably blue (14-20k), and 4-5W/gallon of light. there's no hard and fast rule and TONS of discussion of what optimal light is. Some day I'm going to built a 40' deep aquarium, and just use sunlight. lots cheaper that way

 

i would like to see that tank. i remember see a setup in italy where the guys grow tank was on his balcony lit by the sun.

 

So is the question what lights you should have to grow corals, or to grow coraline algae on your rocks?

Live rocks are stony corals that have died, than coraline algae (or another coral) grows over top of it and makes it larger.

If you want your coraline algae to grow fast so it makes your rocks larger they grow fastest in no light, but keep your calcium and magnesium levels up. It will take a very long time before there is any noticeable change in size of the rock. Then when you start putting in corals you will need to turn your lights on and your coraline will probably bleach a little bit and get replaced by a different color coraline over time.

So the best thing to do would be to figure out what lights you are going to want when you start raising corals. The lights you get will determine what corals you can keep. If you want to keep SPS, anemones, or clams metal halide is a must IMO. People have success growing all of those under t5, but mh is the best. Do some research on the lights you want. Coraline grows under all lighting conditions, its just a different color, and it grows slower. Calcium and magnesium are more important than lighting.