Lighting?

[linjam]

What kind of light should i use for a reef tank?

[envy]

depends on what you want to keep

[cpreefguy]

Yep, it depends on your future gaols for your tank. Ask yourself a few questions. Do you want to keep coral, or fish only?
If you do want to keep coral, what type(s) do you want to keep? Soft coral will require a lot less light than SPS and clams...
Also, take into consideration your budget, whether or not you have a canopy, etc...

[alton]

Go look at others tanks and then mimic the look you want. As far as which lighting is best is an arguement in itself MH vs T5HO vs CFL like Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. One word of thought the fish only thing should never come up because there are so many low light corals out there that fish will will not eat. Xenia, Mushrooms, and some GSP's come to mind. Remember some corals are hardier than fish and they help filter our tanks.

[RayAllen]

Also do a search for other theards. There are many threads on lighitng on a daily basis with the same info. Welcome to Maast.

[linjam]

price isnt a problem. i just want the best light for all corals sps, lps, ect...

[RayAllen]

with a little research you will find that T5's and MH are the way to go. That way you can keep anything you want depending on wattage of corse. T5's are fairly new and becoming much more popular do to the amazing colors they can bring out in your corals and they are much better on the monthly electric bill. MH have been around a while and are very trust worthy. The also run very hot which will lead to a more expensive electric bill and the bulbs cost more.

[apedroza]

Then you definitely want to go MH. The size will depend on the size of the tank. I have 2-250watt SE MH lights with lumenarc reflectors and 2-36watt HO t-5 actinics on a 70gal.

[erikharrison]

I saw Ace state this in another post, it got me to thinking. He said don't get an all in one light because if one part fails.... its just not as easy to fix. Metal Halide and a T5 High Output combination would probably be optimal for any type of reef.

[bronck83]

Then you definitely want to go MH. The size will depend on the size of the tank. I have 2-250watt SE MH lights with lumenarc reflectors and 2-36watt HO t-5 actinics on a 70gal.

I'm about to do the same over a 75 gallon with 30 gallon sump. Do you run into any heat issues? Do you run a chiller?