Lighting for 120 Gal Reef

[FriscoTX]

Setup:
120 Gal
80lbs live rock (will be getting about 40lbs more in a month or so)
Substrate: Live sand (sugar sand)
Fish: 1 spotted puffer, 1 spinney puffer, 1 domino, 2 clown, 1 pseudo chromis and 1 hermit crab.

I'm helping my little sis out with her reef aquarium. She upgraded from a 55 gal to a 120 gal a couple of months ago. All is going pretty well but she's having a bugger of a time trying to find affordable lighting. The guy at the lfs said she could go with 2x48" lights giving her a total of 400 watts. Will that be enough for her set up?

[tecwzrd]

Is your 120 gal 48 1/2 x 24 1/4 x 25 ½? If so and depending on what kind of corals you want MH lighting is probably your best bet although it’s not cheap.

What kind of lighting was the lfs recommending? 2X48” sounds like they were recommending PC or VHO lighting which maxes out at 130W per bulb for PC and 110W for VHO in that sized bulb. For only 2 of them that would be a maximum of 260W not 400W.

[seaham358]

What type of corals do you plan on having? With 2 puffers they may nip on some..
agree with tecwzrd on the lighting..
I like the look of VHO better then PC.... thats just me..

[geckofrog]

MH is the way to go if you can save up your money!