Tropical Fish Forums

[blake]

I want enough lighting to be able to take care off any coral's lighting needs how many watts per gallon would I need if I'm using metall halide lighting
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people who don't love fish are crazy

[perfectblue]

I don't like to follow the watts per gallon rule when choosing lights because there are many other factors that need to be considered. What are the dimensions of the tank and what coral do you plan on keeping?
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55 gallon FOWLR saltwater tank

2.5 gallon saltwater tank

[unissuh]

The best rule of thumb I've gone across so far is this (watts/gallon sucks):

[blake]

well I think I'm going with two or 3 metal halide lights at 150 watts and one attintic 48 inch flourescent bulb on my 55 gallon I think ill put the halides on a sliding track so I can position them above in the spots I need them most
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people who don't love fish are crazy

[MattTVI]

blake, what are you going to keep in this tank?

Corals we typically see for sale at LFSes are found at depths of 2-3' to depths of 20-30' and the lighting requirements of these and everything in between vary greatly. It is nearly impossible to keep corals that are found at greatly disparate depths in the ocean happy (for the long term) in the same tank.

3x 150w MH bulbs over that (shallow) 55g tank is, imo, over kill. As is the actinic. What you can do is setup 2x 150w (if this is the 4', standard 55g) MH bulbs at a k rating of around 12-15k. You can also consider 2x 175w standard (mogul) units at the same color temp ranges. This will save your electric bill and create a nice white/blue color in the tank. Just keep in mind that w/ that amount of lighting, you will potentially create problems for coral that come from deeper parts of the reef. They will have too much light and bleach. This is refered to as photoinhibition.

here's a great article on aquarium lighting

Often times it is better to decide what photosynthetic critters you plan to keep in the tank before you decide what lights to put over it!

best of luck to you sir, my best advice is to read, read, read!

Matt
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65g Future Anemone Home

[dale]

Hi Blake.

You may also wish to consider the heat build up and evaporation that will occur using MH lighting on a small tank like that. You will find that you can't run them for long periods or in the heat of the summer (without AC) and this will negate their benefit to the reef. Also, unless you have an automated top up system you will be adding water every day.
Go for fewer MH bulbs or perhaps consider good quality T-5's and reflectors. On a regular 55 you could have good results from them.
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[blake]

so many cnflicting ideas ill have to figure out what kind of coral I want first I guess and then decide what kind of lighting to go for thanks for all the comments
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people who don't love fish are crazy

[sirreal63]

2-150 watt halides would be more than enough, it is a shallow tank and if you try 3 you are going to have to contend with the center brace, which may melt and fail. Each halide will light a 2'x2' area and that is a narrow tank, no need to try and run 3.
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110 Gallon DSA Pentagon