lighting questions

[jessinator752]

i'm starting to plan to build another reef tank. probably in the 29-46 gal range. this is the first tank i'm actually piecing together so i'm trying to make sure i'm getting what i need. we want to have sps in it, and some peaceful fish. these are my questions:

what is the difference between halogen and halide?
would halogen lights be suitable for a reef tank?
what spectrum is needed for corals, sps in particular?
is the halide really that much better than a t5?

we're redoing some lighting in our house so we've been browsing at lowes and found a lot of different light fixtures. they seem to be much cheaper than the metal halides you can get through a fish site or fish store, so i was curious what the difference was.

[ballardjr2000]

Doinging a little google searching will get you your answer to halogen. That answer is a NO to those. Halide will get you your color spetrum needed for corals. I run T-5 lighting on my 90g works great for SPS corals i even have a CORCEA clam which requires high intesety lighting. all are doing very well. Currently the way to go is either T-5 or metal halide. the spectrum i run is 12k most people run between 10 to 20k on the spectrum with 15k being the mid point. for a 46g tank either t-5 or metal halide will work.

[Jamie]

Jess,

I responded to a similar question a while back in this thread...

http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44455&highlight=lighting

T5 has become very popular and has been recognized as a proven SPS grower. The general rule most abide by if they're thinking of going T5 is to stick with a tank less than 24" deep. Though T5's could still be used, MH lighting is better at penetrating deep into the tank. I personally love the color options that go with using several T5 bulbs over just 1 or 2 MH...and of course the fact that I don't need a chiller with my T5 set-up.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

R, Jamie

[jessinator752]

thank you so much. i will have to read through that link. if i do have any more questions i'll be sure to post them.