Lighting for FOWLR

[pearsont74]

How many watts should I have for a FOWLR? Im wanting to get my 80gal up and goin and having a tough time deciding on what to do....bottom line is right now I dont have enough money to get lighting to house corals and some of the fish I really want is not reef safe so Im thinking of just having some LR and LS and fish....maybe a few inverts...ones that wont be killed by the fish I decide on.
I have 2 double HO fixtures that can hold 40 watt tubes....40 X 4 = 160 watts....is that over kill for FOWLR?
I figured I can get up and running with this and save for the lighting I need and just swap it out in the custom hood I build.

Any thoughts??

 

[Salttanker]

Lighting for a fowlr is pretty much a personal preference. You will be fine with the lighting you have. 160w is definitely not over-kill.

Mike

 

[boardsurfer]

Trust me when I say this- You may eventually go from FOWLR to a reef setup. In this case, get some lighting that you can use later on. What I mean by that is to get some PC's or HO's where you can add some metal halides to later. I'm saying this because a lot of time, people in this hobby will buy lighting for a FOWLR tank, and then it's pretty much useless when they decide to go reef a year later.

Know what I mean?

 

[pearsont74]

Definently but when you can get HO double light fixtures that I have for $10 a piece...Im not too concerned if I can use them later or whatnot

 

[seaham358]

What you have is fine and plenty of light for a fowlr... The only thing you might want to look into is the bulbs that you have. I changed out my bulbs to get a nice color to the tank and bring out the colors in the fish. Not sure what bulbs your running.

 

[malkore]

I also agree that 4x40 HO bulbs should suffice for FOWLR. Probably 1 actinic adn the other 3 daylight. Without corals you shouldn't need much actinic spectrum, but it'll help color the fish and not make the tank seem 'bleached out'.

 

[pearsont74]

yeah...i Havent got the bulbs yet -
thanks for the input

 

[pearsont74]

real quick - is there a list anywhere of inverts and things that require lighting and the amount?

 

[Thumper]

NO lights will be fine and by far the most reasonably priced.

 

[pearsont74]

what about things like feather dusters and anemones....i plan to hold off on anemones until my tank has been up and running and stable...probably like mths from what i read....but do i need to increase the lighting alot for them?

 

[Thumper]

Well for most of them You will need a mh or vho's at the least. From what your describing why not go to hd and get a $15.00 light set up and if you change your mind you can use it for something else, then upgrade to the expensive light set up. Your a good year from an anemone anyway.