Lighting Deep tank

[Dredneck]

]I am getting a 150xh gallon Aquarium that will be set up as live Rock some Fish and down the road some Soft Coral. I am new so I will take it slow and get advice from where I can.

Now, my first confusion, and what I have a question on, is lighting. My tank is a 48" x 24" x 30" 150 gallon tank I am confused on the lighting that would be best (for a live rock/some fish/ Soft Coral). The shop set me up with one 48" LUNAR AQUALIGHT 4x65, but when I researched on line, I found a chart that showed for that size and depth tank I would need 3 of those for 780w total. That would be allot of money on lights! It also gave other light setups for that tank including 1x 48" Metal Halide 2X250WMH, 2X96W PC (692W Total). That may be more expensive but it looks like I would only need one. But really I want what is best for the tank and stock.

I really just would like guidance on the best lighting for my tank, and low power consumption would be nice too! There are so many types. I even saw electronic ballasts lighting.
Here is the Link to the Lighting Chart in case someone wanted to see it;
http://www.marineandreef.com/Info/li...hart_hood.html
Thanks!!!!!!!

[dobejazz]

Hi and welcome to TRT

For Fish and soft corals power compacts would be OK - YOu can look into T-5 lighting as well

[crvz]

Yeah, even though that's a deeper tank, if you're only going to have softy corals you can easily use power compact bulbs with success. Even some more light demanding corals (like LPS types) could do well up higher in the tank.

Welcome to TRT!!