enough lighting?

[TC3modena]

right now i only have a actinic 420 in my FOWLR, is that good enough? i was thinking of adding a dual tube fixture and also running a 10,000k, would that b better? also want to upgrade to a reef in the future, i was thinking of PC, would that b enough?

[TC3modena]

or mayb i should rephrase that, what would b the cheapest lighting setup i can get for a reef? i almost had a stroke when i saw the price on some of those lighting systems.

[orlenz]

if your looking to upgrade without spending an arm and a leg, it helps if your handy with tools, or have a handy friend, I about had a stoke myself looking at the premade systems available, Maybe I'm old fashioned but I prefer the VHO lamps to the PC any day, and you can save money doing your own system, if you already have a hood that helps, by going with VHOs many of the bulbs come with an internal reflector, so if you have a hood you can just paint the inside white, I did mine pretty cheap, I got a standard magnetic VHO ballast and used an aluminum box to mount the ballast remotely so i didn't have all the weight of the ballst on the hood, I bought some water proof end caps on ebay,
and found a good deal online for the URI bulbs, its really not hard to do, while I was at it I did the same thing with 2 metal halide ballasts, I made reflectors for the bulbs and mounted everything in my hood, I went used on the ballasts as well, its not uncomonfor the standard magnetic ballasts to last 10 to 15 years, I would have liked to go with Icecap or another electronic ballast but the cost is very high, I ended up with a system that would have cost several hundreds of dollars to buy, for under 200 dollars, plus the cost of the bulbs. and I wont have to upgrade later, if this sounds good to you let me know, I have a VHO ballast that I'm not using, and it will light your tank up big
time, I can give you pointers on wiring it also.

[TC3modena]

i am handy, i bought a 30. gal hood for my tank, thinking it would have a 36" bulb, but it was only 24", so i went to home deopt, bought a 36" flourescent strip light fixture for $15, but i had to wire it myself, they also have a dual bulb fixture fo $22, i was thinking of getting that and running my actinic 420 with a 10,000k.

[cougaraug]

If you're going for a reef, save our cash on the 2 bulb fixture, and buy some T5. I've seen 2X54 (48 in) retros go for less than $100 on ebay, so I'm sure a 36 incher would be a little less. then when you start getting some corals, you can add more- the beauty of T5 is really in four points- not to godawful expensive to buy, cheap to run (less energy, and WAY less frequent bulb changes that VHO), Individual parabolic reflectors, so pretty much any system is modular and easy to add to, and you get a TON of light (almost as much as MH, but not quite)

[TC3modena]

ok, then i'll hold up on the dual bulb fixture and save up some money for a T5, but what about filtration, i have a seaclone 100 skimmer, and im going to b getting an aqua c remora soon. i was thinking of running a eheim wet/dry system along with the remora, but i dont want a sump because i have no room around my tank for it.

[TC3modena]

any1?

[WaterKeeper]

The wet/dry without the bioballs is a basic sump.

[TC3modena]

i was thinking of getting this. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3639&inm=1&N=2004+22778+113565

[The Grim Reefer]

With a good skimmer (the aqua c) and the proper amount of liverock you don't need a filter. Put your money into a CPR aquafuge. It is a hang on back refugium. The 18" version is less than 100 bucks. Throw a little rock rubble in there and some Macro algae and not only will it help keep your nitrates down you'll grow pods like mad.