What Type Of Lighting Do You Use?

Great, all of this information has been helpful.

Thanks,
Clancy

 

marineland t-5 48 in
cost effective and am happy with the light

 

Nova Extreme Pro T5 HO 6x54W

This is the arrangement of bulbs I selected from front to back:
ATI Blue Plus
Giesemann Aqua Blue+
Aqua Science Special 15000 K
Giesemann Midday
Giesemann Aqua Blue+
ATI Blue Plus

Chose T5s over MH for a couple of reasons:
1. Less Heat. Didn't want to risk needing a chiller.
2. Lower operating cost. Electric bills are already too high in my house.
3. Found lots of good tanks operating with T5s only. Check out this trhread at Reef Central. Reef Central Online Community - please show me your t5 only sps tanks I specifically picked my bulbs to try to replicate JerseyWendy's tank.
4. I have also found some MH tanks hard to look at. The shimmering is nice for a while but I found that it eventually made my eyes get tired. I put this last on my list because this is strictly personal preference.

I went with the Pro because it has individual reflectors. I use separate timers that I purchased. I'm glad they are not on the back of the tank because I was adjusting them every day to acclimate my tank to the brighter light when I upgraded to T5s from PCs. I'v also had timers fail before so I wanted them to be standalone for easy replacement.

 

im also using the nova extream pro 6x54, tank is new so they are just waiting for me to hit the timers....

 

VIPER K2 150W MH clip on..

 

pgreef that is some very good info. That link of the tanks under t5's is amazing.

 

This seems like a dumb question but do you need a light while cycling your tank. Because I want to get my tank cycling soon but I dont have enough $ to get the light I want right now. So can I cycling it without a light?

 

Tek-Lite 8x54 48"
UVL bulbs 4x white actinic and 4x super actinic

 

You really don't need great lights to cycle your tank from what I understand. If you buy LR there probably won't be any hitchiking corals on it anyway. Coraline algae does not need great lights to grow. I have it growing in my fuge which is lit by a 6500K CF bulb. It's also growing in my overflow which is relatively dark since it is behind my tank.

When you do change your lighting you will get a die off of coraline. The dark-loving varieties will die off and turn white. After a few months the light-loving varieties will start to grow and take their place.