Help with lighting requirements

[sunshyne]

We are new to the reef game. We are in the process of building and setting up our 90 gallon tank.

We will have live rock, a few fish and mostly soft corals. I don't imagine we'll have any hard corals at this stage.

We have done some research and heard that compacts are good for such a setup. As if we did have a hard coral we would put it close to the top of the tank near the light.

Here is my question, How much light is enough? Do we *have* to have hallides? I would rather stick with compacts or VHOs right now. But I'm not sure how much we need? Watts? number of bulbs?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Geoff]

i would stick with VHO over PC. they are cheaper to replace, and in a pinch you can use a standard NO bulb until you get another bulb.

as for how much light. tough question. flourescents put out a diffused light while MH's put out an intense point source. this means that more light will get to the bottom of the tank. a good amount to start with would be around 6-7 watts a gallon. this will get you a good range. this should give you enough intensity to keep low light corals near the bottom of the tank. you may also be able to keep some higher light corals up near the surface.

even VHO bulbs can produce a fair amount of heat. so fans may be necessary.

G~

[OodleyBoodely]

Hi, Sunshyne, welcome to TRT. I've had good results using 440w VHOs. I think the color is better than PCs and as Geoff stated, you can use the NO bulbs as long as you have an electronic ballast. I run 6500k NO Phillips bulbs from Home Depot which run about $3.00 bulb, compared to $25-$27 each VHOs. Actinics will still cost you but as you can see, you can save on bulb replacement with VHOs whereas I never seen a PC bulb that can compete pricewise and still work well like the Phillips tubes do.

Wattage-wise, I would recommend trying for between 440w and 660 VHOs as a minimum for your tank. This will easily allow you to keep any of the softies and many lps. You can also keep the lower light loving sps. I have a 55 which is slightly shorter and narrower than your 90 (if its a standard) and I have kept all these types successfully under just the 440s.

[sunshyne]

Thank you both for your help/input.

I have passed the advice on and we'll see what we end up with.