Too much lighting? Or not enough?

[Amber Nussbaum]

I am planning my 55 gallon reef tank. I will be buying 80 lbs of live rock from Dr. Mac Corals (http://www.drmaccorals.com) in the next week or two and curing it in my tank. I'd like to eventually have soft corals, some inverts and some fish.

I'm trying to make a shopping list ahead of time so I don't run into any surprises. I'm thinking about the lighting set up on this page (http://www.jcaquatics.com/page4.html): the 48" Orbit Deluxe 4x65w. It has SunPaq Dual Daylight (10,000K & 6,700K), Dual Actinic (460nm & 420nm) and Lunar Light together in one fixture. Comes with 2 dual daylight, 2 dual actinic, 4 lunar lights, and 2 switches.

Is this too much light for what I'm planning? For the soft corals and inverts?

Just curious, would I ever be able to keep an anemone or a clam under this lighting?

The dimensions of my tank: 55 gallon, 48 long x 12.5 deep x 21 high.

Thanks.

[Forgot my user name]

Hi Amber,
I've been looking at the same lights and had the same questions.
It seems in this hobby lighting is like having money in the bank, you can never have too much. From what I've read for the type of animals you are considering you'll need about 4-5 watts/gal as a rule of thumb. A clam will need more...probably need MH's to keep a clam. I'm going with the 4x96watt Orbit model for my 75gal tank.
Paul

[Meloco14]

Well, for your main purposes I think this light will be great. I don't know anything about this specific brand, but 4 65watt PC's will be good for any soft coral and lots of LPS's. For an anemone it's marginal, maybe one of the less demanding species will be ok. I wouldn't put a clam under those lights. While clams can technically be kept alive under enough PC wattage, they really don't do well unless under metal halides. A clam under PC, if it lives, will probably have dull colors and grow very slowly. But other than clams and SPS's these lights will give you healthy soft corals and most LPS's.

[mattseattle]

on my 55 gallon i went with 2x250w 6.5k Iwaski's and 2x110w Aquabrite Super Blue VHO's. 720 watts of light :) i can have clams, sps, lps, etc.

great coloring and great growth and i only spent 250.00 bucks on the lighting.

[Aaron1100us]

it will be ok for softies and some lps but I'd get halides if you want a clam and anemone

[mattseattle]

one of the few mistakes i made when i first set up my tank was to skimp on the lighting. i went with power compacts and within a few months i realized that i should've went with halides because i saw this gorgeous clam at the local fish store as well as some amazing corals. so i found some used 175w halides so I upgraded to those. then i got my first clam and realizing that i couldn't put the clam as low in the tank as i wanted so then i recently upgraded to 250w. i should've done more research at the beginning and just bought 250watt'ers at the beginning and i would've saved money in the long run. now the only issue i have really is i have to make sure some corals are lower in the tank or they'll get bleached.

so my advice is definitely do the research and buy what you need for long term success. at least now with the 250's i can upgrade my 55 gallon to a much larger tank and still use the same lighting.

[Amber Nussbaum]

Thanks guys, good advice.