Adding New Lights

[pilotfox01]

I have had my 37 gal salt water tank up and running for two years now and I begun to think that I should get better lights so I can have corals and things like that. Right now all I have is a cheap floresent light that came with the aquarium. The light causes all this nasty brown algae to grow all over the tank and I'm getting sick of it. So does anyone have any ideas on what lights to buy so I can grow corals and stuff. If its possible I'm not looking to spend over $100.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[peter101]

i'm not sure how far 100 dollars will take you exactly, but i know that it wont take you too far. also, it may not be your lights that is causing that algea growth. are you using an RO/DI unit? or tap water? if you are using tap water, its highly recomened to switch to RO/DI for a reef set up, which run up to about 200-300 bucks depending on what kind of deal you get. So this would be the first step. VHO or PC lighting would be satifactory for quite a few corals, but MH and atinic lighting would be ideal. When looking at MH fan-cooled hood w/ bulbs you will most likely break the $1000 plateau. I'm not too sure about WHO and PC lighting, but another member would be happy to fill you in on the general price range for these, but no doubt it will be over $100.
You'd be able to save a great deal if you DIY, and there are some great DIY MH hood plans out there, but the bulbs alone are fairly pricy
HTH

 

[justDIY]

hmm

stricly speaking, $100 is not a large budget, but you don't have a large tank

if you're willing to do some basic woodwork and a little wiring, you can get 192 watts of PC light for about that.

if you can spring $250, you can get a dual175 watt MH retrofit kit and some bulbs from eBay... that will give you more than enough light ... there are smaller wattage MH, but they cost so much, I'm not sure it's worth using them.

 

[pilotfox01]

I'm not to sure what any of those abbrevations meant, sorry. But anyways would something like this do the job <http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?CatalogCustomerNum=&catalognum=&pCatId=9871&prodId=18604&catId=964946&siteid=6>

also I use tap water.

 

[reefrunner69]

I'm not to sure what any of those abbrevations meant

The abbriviations are highlighted or written in a different color, if you hold your mouse over it for a couple of seconds an alt text appears showing you what the abbreviation means.

 

[justDIY]

well, check around ebay, also www.ahsupply.com and www.hellolights.com