would this work?

Metal Halide coralife 36" Light salt water

Guy is willing to go down to 280.. my worry is I would have to put it in the middle of my 55g but would my tank be to long for just one?

 

It depends. What are the dimentions?

 

The entire fixture is 36 long by like 15in

 

Are you talking reef or fowlr? For a reef my concern would be the light dispersal, plus add if you have the normal 55g with the cross beam it is going to block alot of the light. I would think it would spotlight the middle of the tank either way probably too much for my tastes.

 

I'm not an expert at this stuff as I am just starting a FOWLR tank, but if it would fit on the tank and isn't too strong or weak, I think it's a pretty good deal. Do you have anything in your tank right now?

 

That was my concern as well...

 

For that light it's a good deal. It's got everything you could use for growing coral. For your 55g tank I feel it's too short for a sit on top model. If you planned on bunching your sps in the middle, and having softies on either side it would work. If you've already got corals in your tank now, I would absolutely plan on some kind of acclimation procedure when adding that strong of a lamp, unless you're using MH now. Personally I would shoot for the 200 range and say that's my budget, but 280 from 350 ain't bad. It's your choice, but remember that the bulb may have to be changed soon, and that's not free. For around 450 you could build your own led spread and won't have to buy bulbs in the next year, just food for thought.

 

Ya shows its a new bulb but who knows.. I have two 50 Watt led fixtures arriving in the morning just afraid it won't be enough .. would it be overkill if I put one single metal halide fixture in middle 175w and leds on each side?

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/for/2788946184.html

 

That seems like a very mixed set of lighting. I haven't heard of anything like that before, what I would be most concerned with is moving anything around. When things acclimate to one certain light area, they will be harder to move from one side or the other. You'll have two distinct light areas that may give completely different par needs to the corals living in there. I would try and keep the scheme equal across the whole tank just simply for uniformity. That's just my opinion. I hope someone with better lighting experience could chime in here to give you more advice with that.