Need better light!?

[jamal-188]

I have a 110 gallon salwater tank that is 31" tall. currenlty I only have a dual pul that is 90watts total I believe. I can only afford $200-300 on a lighting system so what you guys recommend assuming I have fish/inverts with maybe some corals placed near the top if possible Tank is 48" long btw. I was considering JBJ 260watt, or Aqualight 260watt. Here is a link to each light to show the models I'm talking about. Any other recommendations would be great because I don't understand the complicated world of lighting yet.

JBL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2350757600&category=3212

Aqualight: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2349606214&category=46314

 

[JJCRIC]

I am no expert actually I have only been dealing with salt water for about 8 months now but IMO that is low wattage for corals, you would probably be fine with that for a FOWLR. With those you would only have 2.3 WPG A general rule of thumb is at least 3 WPG for some corals. 5+ WPG you can have most everything including clams. But 31" tall is very tall you may want to wait and save a little more to get MH lights, unless you can find 2 24" PC lights with 260W each. That will give you 4.7 WPG but I haven't seen any like that yet.

 

[loganj]

My vote goes to saving for MH. With the depth of that tank, PC's aren't going to give you the penetration you need.

 

[jamal-188]

My vote goes to saving for MH. With the depth of that tank, PC's aren't going to give you the penetration you need.

So what MH system would you recommend, I don't really know anything at all about this? Will the MH make my aquarium look better even if I stay with fish only?

 

[steve-s]

If the tank will stay FO, you need not spend alot of money on lighting. The need for better light would come with an FOWLR (for coralline) or reef. Before you decide on any lighting, I would first research the many types of corals and sessile invertebrates that you may be passing up. Lighting can be quite pricey and only something you wnat to purchase once.

If FO, the NO fluorecents would be fine. FOWLR, the PC set up above would do for coralline plus a bit extra. If reef, then you would do better with a 2x250w MH lighting with actinic supplimentation. The deeper the tank and more light demading the corals, the more intense the light needs to be. If you end up favoring primarily SPS and such, you would do better with 2x400w MH with a 31" depth.

Cheers
Steve

 

[JJCRIC]

I agree, think about it long and hard I got PC lights for mine and run about 3.1 WPG and now of course I want all the corals I can't have. I can still have quite a few corals and my tank looks great. But still saving for MH for the future.

 

[Strictly Marine]

If you are not planning to put any SPS or clams you can definitely go with either PC or VHO. I actually have a VHO retro kit that comes with ballast endcaps and bulbs for 300 shipped and a retro Halide kit 2 175 with 13K bulbs and ballast for 365 and 250watts for 399 shipped. Mikesze@hotmail.com if you are interested.