Lighting (head spinning!)

[Shan_McG]

So now I've been reading about lighting. Yikes. I've decided on a 55g tank, starting out with fish and LR, with a strong possibility of moving to reef later within 6 mo or so. I understand that VHO is the best option but I really can't afford that. Would compact fluorescents work? to begin with I'm mostly interested in keeping the live rock, well, live. Whats the minimum lighting requirements you'd need. I read that posting on about.com about lighting but it still has me a little confused.

:thanks:
shannon

[Rmip]

I used to have 110V compact fluorescents with 2 50/50 bulbs, cost me about $400 new. Then I bougt a used complete 400W MH system and a new MH bulb for less than $250. So shop around for deals. I'm new in the hobby, so can't give you other advice.

[Reef Mike]

If you plan on keeping fish with LR only you can go with NO lights but you will not be able to go to a reef with this setup. (your selection of corals will be severely limited)

I would recommend you buy a Glo-Mat NO ballast from Big Als or somewhere else (it fires two NO bulbs) Buy a 10K and Actinic bulb and use this for now.

When you decide to go reef you should get MH 2x175 10k would be perfect and then use your NO as your actinic supplements.

The reason I suggest getting the Glo-Mat ballast is that it is not in a hood, thus you will be able to use this setup as your actinic supplementation when you get MH.

Also if you can plan your canopy to accomodate MH for the futures (10" of the water)

Hope this helps

Mike