What would you do? (light question)

[Hotrod32487]

I have a 30 gallon and just bought a 55. Im trying to figure out the lighting and what i should do. I have a 36" 96w pc on my 30g right now. I was given the idea of adding this onto the 55g which is 48" long and adding 2 seperate 48" T-5s on each side of the pc going longways. Would this be enough lighting for LPS? Or do y'all have any other ideas that wouldnt cost me more than another $100?

[Ross]

do it right and buy metal halides

[betiuminside]

yeah... I would say... wait until you get the 200 and buy MH.
Even if you do just LPS or soft... you always have the chance to put at least 1 oe 2 SPS! and everything will look even better.
Just a comment from sombody who did the same mistake.

[Hotrod32487]

96w pc and 2 t-5s wouldnt be enough for lps though? Really cant afford to pay double for lights what i payed for tank, stand, canopy, skimmer and filter in a deal

[demodiki]

$200 for MH? I need to talk the wife into giving me some money :)

I would say that would be enough light but I have a similar setup and the colors just aren't great. Given good water and care they will even grow but it all looks brown and green.

[ReefOne]

i have two bare 175w ballasts that I was trying to sell for 60 bucks for both. Check out brians wife's tank, two 175 and that thing is so sweet!

[caferacermike]

I just upped my lighting from 350w MH with 200w PC to 500w MH and 200 w PC and what a difference it has made. I thought it was bright before, I know realize how wrong I was. That is 700w of light ona 75g. I just built a fixture for a friend with a 48" 100g that has 700w MH and 200 w PC and it looks just about right.

You can always find a deal on a tank, stand and canopy. The one thing I found you cannot skimp on is the lighting. Yes I paid $1,000 for my lighting and $700 for a hand built furntiture stand, canopy, tank, sump, live sand, Eheim canister, Tunze auto top off, and Tunze pulsing power head. The one thing I wished I had not done in steps is the lighting. A 400w MH pendant on a 55g would rock to no end. even a nice 250w DE MH on a 55 would be nice. I think there are some 250w pendants in the for sale area.

[caferacermike]

Um yes here it was.... http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=21363

[demodiki]

/hijack on

So, that seller is selling the pendants separate from the ballast? For a 55 you would need 2 pendants and...2 ballasts? Okay, I'm ignorant when it comes to lighting.

[caferacermike]

One nice 250 should suffice for an average tank. 2 would be awesome for an SPS tank. depending upon the ballast, it's usually one ballast per bulb. The ballast may be built in if it is advertised as a pendant.

[Hotrod32487]

So... i think y'all kind of missed the point. I cannot afford/do not want to pay $200 for lighting. Would the 36 inch 96w pc and 2 48 inch T-5s be enough to keep LPS?

[Ed]

How about selling/trading the 96W PC and adding two more 48"T5HOs? Should be able to do that and stay within your budget. With good reflectors he T5s will put out more usable light than the PC, bulbs are cheaper, and last longer. Just a thought. HTH.

[Hotrod32487]

Ed, so your saying 4 t-5s would be better than the 96w pc and 2 t-5s? (i honestly dont know) This PC is fairly new though and i paid $100 for it so i wonder how much id be losing out on lol Money is the issue here, especially at the moment