what type if lighting do i need for a new 55gal

[aquarium]

?????????/ i would like to use that blue fluorescent looking light but i dont know if i would be able to use it....please help

 

[seafan]

How many watts is your fixture? Do you have daylight 10,00k lights? VHO SO of CF?

 

[seaham358]

is this a reef or fish only tank.
they are called actinic lights.

 

[loganj]

If this is a FO (fish only) tank, you can get by with standard output lighting. If you have the single bulb fixtures, that will be a 40 watt bulb. You'll need two fixtures if you want an actinic bulb. You'll want to have one actinic and one daylight bulb at least. If you have LR in the tank, and want to have good coraline growth, you may want to look into upgrading to a PC system. This is not to say that coraline won't grow under standard lighting...it's just slow. If you want to have corals, you will have to upgrade to more intense lighting such as PC, VHO, or even MH.

 

[Juster]

My advice is to think long and hard about what you want the tank to be and what livestock you will have. You do not want to limit you potential livestock additions because of inadequate lighting. It is also really painful to have to spend another bunch of cash on a new lighting system because your current lighting in snot enough. From the research I have done PC is a minimum. HTH.

 

[captivereefs]

A 48" 4-65 watt coralife aqualight will do the job for most corals for under $200. I would buy with a reef in mind because most people go that route eventually.

 

[Salttanker]

That is what I bought a couple of weeks ago captive reefs (48" 4-65w coralife). Without the actinics, it appears a little yellowish, but combined it looks pretty good. Not bad for the money on the retro kit.

Mike