6ft tank HM help

[Saltwater Guy]

Im am in the process of upgrading my lights on my 155g bow front. The tank is 6ft long and I really have no clue about lighing at all. Can you help point me in the right direction and explain what to look for. Most everything that I see is for 4 ft tanks.

My tank has well over 200 lbs of live rock but still an ample amount of room for fish to swim.

My filter is a 55g custom built acrylic sump with. The dual over flow goes into filter socks and then onto lr i have in the sump. The scond chamber has my 9watt uv ( i know this is small for a 155) my tunze 9015 skimmer, phosban reactors one with phosban and one with reef carbon and then returned in my mag 18 pump in the thrid chamber.

Currently I have no corals and little amount of fish. I want to upgrade to keep zoas, mushrooms, frogspawn, to start.

My stock list as of now is
2 Clowns
5 Reef Chromis
1 Royal Grama
1 Pixi Hawk
1 Damzel

[besl]

You could go with power compacts, but I bet in a year or two you will be asking for advise to upgrade so you can keep lps and then sps. For 6 footers there are several choices based on what you want to keep for livestock, how much you want to spend and what approach (retro, fixture, etc) you take. I have the Current USA Outer Orbit (combo mh and t5) - I like it alot - I have 1/2 lps and 1/2 sps - very pleased with these lights.

[Saltwater Guy]

I was planning on spending around 1000 or under for my lighings unless there is a huge difference for something over 1000. Can you post a picture of your fixture.

[Saltwater Guy]

what should i be looking for when selecting a bulb.

[Chipsreef]

Im sure you are looking for a fixture im assuming you dont have a canopy, correct?

[Saltwater Guy]

correct

[mile sq. reefer]

I know Current makes a 3x150w HQI and a 3x250w HQI fixture that is 72" in length. For a tank with your height I'd go with a 250w model of whatever brand you choose.

[Saltwater Guy]

if i purchase a 150w fixture can i upgrade the bulbs to 250w later or does the fixture only support 150w. If I do purchase the 250w with t5's would the supply enough light to keep any coral?

[mile sq. reefer]

No, the lamps in the fixture are bulb/ballast specific. I'd go 250 because of the tank height. This will eliminate a foreseen future upgrade and will allow you to stock just about any type of light loving reef animal. You have too many options not to do it. I own and am a big fan of the Sunpod. It is a metal halide only sytstem. Supplemental lighting isn't necessary, although some may disagree. It is used to simulate a dawn and dusk and add more blue to some bulbs like 10k that may run a little yellow. Aesthetics. Plug and play all the way. They are also around or under your price range.

[Saltwater Guy]

thanks for the help