Do I have the right lighting?

[toad268]

I have a 55 Gallon Saltwater Tank with an Emperor 400 Power Filter, Penguin 550 Power Head, Excaliber Protein Skimmer, Live Sand, and a terrible lighting system, at least I think... that is what I need help on... I have a 40W with 2 24 inch bulbs...I need to know if this is good enough of do I need something better. My fish do well in it, but I want to start getting live fish and other things and was wondering how much and what kind of new lighting is necessary if at all.

 

[Marc118]

3-5 watts per gallon is usually the rule of thumb.

 

[Princess]

What about the color of the lights? I have a 120g and am getting a 3 light and 4 light VHO system. I was thinking 3 white and 1 blue in the 4 light and 2 white and 1 blue in the three system. Any thoughts?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

well, i'm not sure how many actinicts to white daylights to use, but most people that have light fixtures with more than one bulb use a 50/50 ratio...2 whites to 2 blue actinics...but i might be wrong. Also, for the white daylight bulbs, you want to watch for the kelvin, or as on the lables of the bulbs, just K. It will be like 10,000K or 12,000K and i think it goes up to something like 20,000K. I'm pretty sure you want something at least 10,000K for most stuff, but someone else help me on that one.

and as marc says, 3-5 is about what you want, but i think higher would always be better. Might make more algae, but some corals require very intense light.

hope this helps
mike