lights for 125 reef tank

[saltwateraddict]

I am upgrading my 55 to 125. I have a 200 gallon wet/dry filter and all I need now is lights. I want to be able to have soft trees, plate corals, and more flame scallops. I do not have a money tree but I do love my tank. I was told you could use car high beam bulbs for lighting. Is this true? What is a good low cost lighting solution.

PS I am new at this, my tank has been setup for 1 year. I like the reef better than the fish

 

[d9hp]

I would say to use Power Compacts although I dont know a lot about those scallops.

 

[loganj]

I wouldn't recommend the use of car headlights. They are not the right spectrum and they won't give you enough light. They are also 12 volt and will require a transformer. For a 6' tank, IF you don't intend to keep any of the more demanding corals, you would be OK with either VHO or Power Compact lighting. If you think you might want to try some of the more "light needy" corals later, you should probably go with a metal halide system to start with. There isn't really any cheap way to light a tank that size. It starts at expensive and goes to ridiculous. If you are good at building things, you might save a good deal of money that way.

 

[d9hp]

Check out some of logans posts on doing a DIY light system, he has some really good ideas.

 

[saltwateraddict]

125 g lights

where can I find the dyi information from loganj is it on this site?

 

[loganj]

Use the search link at the top of the page to find stuff on the site. Also, on the home page, there is a link for "links". You'll find a couple of DIY links in there. Also check out www.ozreef.org/diy/index.html .