Lighting for a 40 gallon tank

[nauticalgyrl]

I am just starting to purchase equipment to start a reef setup. I have all the equipment i need except lighting as I am confused on what I need. Any suggestions

 

[fishfreek]

What type of corals do you want? For reef tanks you have four choices. You can go with T-5 florecent, VHO florecent and PC florecent. In addition you could elect to go with MH lighting or any combination of the four types.

If the tank has a center brace you will need two MH bulbs mounted so they are the same distance left and right of the center brace so as to cancel the shadow effect.

The acutal lighting setup is somewhat dependant upon the ultimate goals for what types of coral and inverts you wish to keep.

 

[nauticalgyrl]

I would like to add a handful of corals but have not decided which ones. I dont think I want MH, so am going back and forth on VHO or Power Compacts and am leaning toward PC, but not sure which ones.

 

[nauticalgyrl]

will this work for my setup?
30" Coralife Aqualight
Dual Linear Strip
(130W Total)
2X 65W
-Bulbs are offset
-Comes with two 50/50 bulbs