help with lighting

[gnakk]

what kind of lighting can i use for under $150 to grow these corals?

Corals: yellow colony polyp, colony polyp, toadstool shroom, colt coral, spotted shroom, green fluorescent shroom

Anenomes: tube anenome, long tentacle anenome

since they are all relatively low light and easy to care for, i am thinking maybe 160-240 watts of light for 12 hours a day. will this be sufficient and if it is, what ration should i use for actinic? please help

-Thanks

[Nuhtty]

What size tank?

[speccialj922]

id stay away from the anenome (lta). youre not going to get a new lighting system for <150 assuming that your tank is 30g or larger that is. they are also a lot more work than new reefers anticipate. id get some experience under your belt before trying an anenome - so many die in captivity because of insufficient systems. i currently use vho's and like them a lot. pc's arent too bad either. cant say personally though. a 2 lamp vho system wouldnt run you much more than 150 with bulbs.

[horkn]

i just got a 3x39 t5 ho retro from aqualuxlighting.com. it was a gift to me for christmas, but with bulbs it was a smidgen over 150 dollars, like 160s....


anyways, these lights will easily grow near any coral you want, even acropora.. and clams.. but the anemones are a touchy subject. it seems that MH lights are a necessity for those....

you could probably geta 2x54 watt t5 ho retro from them for under 150 easily....

[gnakk]

oh yea sorry the tank is 55 gallons and i am leaning toward a 48" 2 lamp VHO retrofit kit from hellolights.com. if i get this, what combo of actinic to regular should i use?

[speccialj922]

get 1 actinic blue and 1 daylight, on seperate power cords. this way you can create a dawn and dusk effect. i just recently upgraded to 4 vho's and now do the d/d effect, looks awesome.

with the t5's - most clams need as much light as anenome's. id be careful with some acro's, clams and anenome's under t5s unless you have a shallow tank.

[freddie40]

Do Not waste your money on VHO. For a bit more in the short run (much cheaper in the long run) T5s are the way to go. 3 54 watt T5s will blow away 3 VHO.

If you want the ultimate T5 setup go with 3 54 ich T5 and an IceCap 440 ballast (4 T5 and a IceCap 660 would be better 2 11,000k 1 Actinic, 1 Blue+). With either of these setups yopu will be able to keep anything.

Dave