Lighting?

[doza]

I am trying to set up my 55 gallon s/w aquarium. What would the lighting requirements be? I plan to have a few fish and live rock. I do not have any sort of lighting assembly yet and I am trying to figure out which one I should purchase (as well as which bulbs). Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
mike

 

[fishfreek]

I know you said you plan on keeping fish and LR. Do you have any intent on keeping corals? If so what type of corals do you find interesting and desirable.

Using this knowledge you will be able to spec out a lighting system and purchase the equipment just once vs having to go back and perform upgrades.

 

[doza]

Well, eventually I would like to try to raise some corals in the tank. I really don't know the different types yet (this is my first aquarium), so I would probably get the ones that are the easiest to maintain. Can you recommend any that would be good for a beginner?

That being said, what kind of light fixture/bulbs would be appropriate for my needs?

BTW, I really like this site. I would be very much in the dark now with being able to browse these forums and ask some questions.

 

[fishfreek]

Well first let me start by saying that lighting is very much a user preference. Some hobbiests swear by one specific type of lighting and anything else is just not correct.

With that said I would like to turn your attention to a few threads on this site. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=12 This thread has a chart and also a link to a rather long discussion on lighting. Some of it is alot more technical than your question asks but its good to know in a general sense.

For a reef tank you should try to get between 3-5 Watts per gal. This is a general rule of thumb. This will allow you to keep most of the low and medium light needing corals.

My personal preference is PC (Powercompact) florecent lighting. 4 55W PC blubs with two at 10K and two actinic would be very nice for a 55 gal. Another option would be VHO lighting. Due to the amount of light you need for corals using NO (Normal output) florecents would require many bulbs over your tank.