Lighting for a 40gal long

[Salt4Us]

Well, we've decided on some corals we want to put in our 40gal long. Haven't bought them yet we'll be buying them slowly but here's the list:

Montipora caprocornis
Plerogyra sinusa (Grape bubble)
Euphyllia divisa (Frogspawn)
Euphyllia fimbriata (Hammer coral)
Gorgonia sp. (Seafan)

According to what we've read about these, they all have in common needing medium lighting (some read medium to high, some read medium). My question is....what constitutes medium lighting?
Am I going to be OK with PC only? Do I need a combination of PC & MH?
I was thinking of either 2 - 96W PC's (one 10k bright, one 03 actinic) or 4 - 55W PC's (two of each). Will it be enough? We won't be buying the corals until we have all the lighting put in.
Thanks for all input/advice!

John

 

[BillyZ]

gonna bump this for those with more coral experience than I.

My thoughts, I would venture, unless the coral specificaly needs a certain amount of light and no more than I would venture to guess that if you shoot for a higher end amount of light then you could simply place your lower need corals deeper in the tank, and your higher need corals higher in the tank and be OK.

again, I don't have much coral exp so wait on a few other's comments.

 

[kribbz]

i think that you will find that if you go with one 175 watt MH and two 24" NO's then you will be able to keep a little more. doing this will give you greater intensity from you lighting and also be cheaper because PC bulbs get expensive. also the reason i would use the NO bulbs for your acticnic is because speaking from personal experience i have had both the pc actinic and the no and IMO the pc doesn't even come close the the coloration that the NO has.

 

[ketqtmn]

What are the dims of your tank??

 

[Gauge]

What does NO stand for? :?

I'm a newbie!

 

[Salt4Us]

dims of the tank are: 36"x 15.5"x15

NO = normal output florescent lights

 

[d9hp]

hmm, you might need 2 mhs for that tank...

i remember seeing a 40 with just one MH and there were major dark spots. I would do PCs

 

[reefrunner69]

Personally I would probably go with the 2 X 96W PC, in a tank of that depth, I think you could supposrt softies, LPS and some SPS.