Converting a 55gal to REEF (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

I am changing my 55gal setup to a reef tank (and I am new to this) and was wondering what kinds of lighting I should get. I want to get the coralife 48" pc, but I don't know whether to get the 130Watt or the 260watt. I am also going to use the sump/overflow from my 135 gal tank to keep it a little cleaner. Any suggestions?

 

[BrianPlankis]

What do you want to keep in your 55? That is probably the most important question for determining your light and flow. If you want to keep shrooms and softies the PC should be fine, but SPS should be under Metal Halide(MH).

B.

 

[Guest]

it depends on what types of coral you would like to display and how much money you are willing to spend... if you are fairly new, those coralife PC will suffice if you plan on having some simple types of coral that do not need intense lighting... but if you are going to be into SPS, Clams or anything that needs intense lighting you will be better off researching for some VHO's or some kind of metal halide lighting... good luck...

 

[cparka23]

if you decide on that PC lighting, definitely get the 260W fixture. 130W is barely scraping by, and your corals might be 'just okay' rather than happy and healthy.

you'd be alright keeping softies and most LPS with 260W PC lighting. But as garagebrian and metsuko said, SPS/clams --» MH lighting. anything else is not an option. since you're new, of course you should start with softies and easy LPS corals.. the problem is when you see those pretty SPS tanks, you might eventually want to jump into them. but by then, you're stuck with the lighting you chose.