lighting help. . .

dont know to much about lighting for tanks. cam someone tell me the cheep way and the best way to light my 100g tank . dont know what i will be putting inside the tank yet .but by seeing a lot of good tanks on this site i think i will be going full out . I plan to make my own canopy . THAX:thumb_up: :-/

 

You've got to fiqure out what you want first as far as livestock because that kinda determine what lighting to suggest.

Also how deep is your 100G?

 

Hi Ginny
I,m planning on doing the same thing, but not going to go all out with the coral at first....So I hope this helps I,m going to use two of these http://www.topbulb.com/find/Product_Description.asp_Q_intProductID_E_49655
With one or two actinics...After asking around, I was told this would support
a good variety of coral ...Might be able to make the whole thing for $100
Good luck
TIA

 

my 100gl is 60Lx18Wx24H

 

24" is not that deep, so you wont have problems with lighting. Like everyone else mentioned, it really depends what you intend to keep. If I had to guess, you want a little of everything, soft, sps, lps. The best way to ensure everyone get's the needed lighting... go metal halide. You can probably do 3 250w or 2 400w MH's with 2 T12 VHOs to supplement if you go lower on the Kelvin on the MH bulbs. 60"L is pretty long and it is recommended that you should do 1 MH for every 2 feet. Also, if you intend to keep light intensive corals, 7wpg+ would be sufficient.