Lighting suggestions

[Sonomakid]

I am looking for lighting suggestions for a budget reef tank.. i know i said budget.. After talking to my wife about turning my 90g into sw next spring she said why waste money on fish if your going to do that.. So i am looking for suggestions on lighting and skimmers for my 90g to see if this is possiblity for me to do or if i should keep dreaming thanks

 

[melosu58]

Lighting is very expensive. The types readily available are Power compacts---> VHO`s----> T5`s-----> Metal Halides. One way I found out to save money is by using retro fits. I have VHO retro fits. You basically build it yourself. Mine are 4 VHO bulbs with end caps on them going to 2 ballast and then wired to a switch. You could do that with any of those type of lighting.

 

[juice28]

yea retrofit kits are the cheapest way to go if you feel comfortable doing electrical work. I dont so I went with power compacts(probably the cheapest lighting set up you will find on average, you can get VHO's for a good price too but expect to spend a few hundred bucks. I wanted a soft/LPS tank so the power compacts are perfect for that type of set up. What kind of tank were you wanting to set up i guess is the underlying question? i like movement so I went with softies and LPS's. Im a little low to keep an anemone but I have some fish that dont do well with them, my clowns love my frogspawn and it doesnt seem to mind them either

 

[Sonomakid]

guess i really havent thought about what i exactly wanna do... need to do some more research

 

[juice28]

yea, I know it might seem kind of negative but trust me, having a game plan for what you want your tank to look like will save a huge amount of money and a massive headache, since you are starting out id say go soft/LPS they look just a nice if not nicer(to me) than an SPS tank but like I said I really like to watch things move in the water and flow back and forth I would say see what it takes to have SPS coral and see what it takes to have an LPS tank, then google SPS and LPS and see what you like, that way you will know what type of corals you want to have and then you can work on equipping your tank to suit what you want. happy hunting!