# the very best in salt water lighting



## titan505 (Jun 5, 2007)

hello everyone i just had a question for any one that can help. just wondering what would be the very best light for a 75g salt water reef tank? this will be my first salt water tank so i want to go all out. the people told me that i need a good light if i want to have a coral/reef tank. so thats why i ask the professionals you guys what would be the very best light to get the tank i have now would fit a 48'' light thank you all very much.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

six individully reflected t5's or two 250 watt hqi or two 300 watt se metalide with lumeric refletors and t5 or VHO actinic supplimental lighting.

that would be the best options


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Those are great lighting options ND. The real question becomes, what type of corals are you looking to house. Everyone always does this step backwards, and picks the lighting then picks corals to go with that lighting. First, decide what corals you want to keep (e.g. Soft, LPS, SPS), then pick a suitable lighting to match their needs.


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## titan505 (Jun 5, 2007)

Coldfire said:


> Those are great lighting options ND. The real question becomes, what type of corals are you looking to house. Everyone always does this step backwards, and picks the lighting then picks corals to go with that lighting. First, decide what corals you want to keep (e.g. Soft, LPS, SPS), then pick a suitable lighting to match their needs.


oh i dont know what kind of corals the fish people showed me but i will try to find out. i thought any high wattage light would work i guess i was wrong thanks for letting me know and can you explain what this is (e.g. Soft, LPS, SPS), means thanks and nismo driver can i find those lights a drs. foster and smith or any other online stores. thanks u guys oh and if the wattage is to high will it kill the corals?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

getin dachopuh said:


> oh i dont know what kind of corals the fish people showed me but i will try to find out. i thought any high wattage light would work i guess i was wrong thanks for letting me know and can you explain what this is (e.g. Soft, LPS, SPS), means thanks and nismo driver can i find those lights a drs. foster and smith or any other online stores. thanks u guys oh and if the wattage is to high will it kill the corals?


the wattage isnt necessarily as import as the intensity, the best example of this is T5 florecent where the wattage of a 24inch bulb is 24watts and 4 of them could be camparable to running a 150 watt metal halide will similar coral growth and health.

sps - small polyp stony coral this is typically high light and very high water quality (t5 or metal halide)

LPS - large polyp stony corals, light requirements of these range but typically medium to high (t5 or metal halide some compact florecent)

soft corals - are things like zooanthid, mushrooms, leathers, kenya tree most soft coral are considered to be more "beginner corals" they can be sustained under compact florecent lighting whic is cheaper and water quality doesnt have to be as good as for sps.

all corals can be aclimated to more intense lighting but not all corals can be kept sucessfully under lower intensity light. but any coral should be acclimated to your tank for both the differnece in water quality and the light intensity, that can be done by placeing corals low in the tank and slowly moving them up closer toteh light until they are in an area where they are getting the proper amount of light, there is no exact answer to that though you just have to watch and wait to determine how "happy" the coral is, that can be determined by polyp extension and over all colorl and how the tissue looks and over longer period gorwth..

water movement is just as important as lighting but many times over looked, again though for the most part there is no exact answer to how much movement but the more turbulent indirect water movement over corals the better, you dont want to blast them with direct current from a power head. minimum i would say 10x the tank volume at least, you dont want dead spots.. there really is no limit, if you can have 100x with out a snad storm or blowing things over then its good..

the current USA outter orbits are a decent "stock" all in one lighting solution a couple of us ont eh forum use them with no complaints and good sucess you can find them on most of the online retailers the reflectors arent the best but there easy to use plug an play lighting reasonably priced..


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## titan505 (Jun 5, 2007)

nismo driver said:


> oh i dont know what kind of corals the fish people showed me but i will try to find out. i thought any high wattage light would work i guess i was wrong thanks for letting me know and can you explain what this is (e.g. Soft, LPS, SPS), means thanks and nismo driver can i find those lights a drs. foster and smith or any other online stores. thanks u guys oh and if the wattage is to high will it kill the corals?


the wattage isnt necessarily as import as the intensity, the best example of this is T5 florecent where the wattage of a 24inch bulb is 24watts and 4 of them could be camparable to running a 150 watt metal halide will similar coral growth and health.

sps - small polyp stony coral this is typically high light and very high water quality (t5 or metal halide)

LPS - large polyp stony corals, light requirements of these range but typically medium to high (t5 or metal halide some compact florecent)

soft corals - are things like zooanthid, mushrooms, leathers, kenya tree most soft coral are considered to be more "beginner corals" they can be sustained under compact florecent lighting whic is cheaper and water quality doesnt have to be as good as for sps.

all corals can be aclimated to more intense lighting but not all corals can be kept sucessfully under lower intensity light. but any coral should be acclimated to your tank for both the differnece in water quality and the light intensity, that can be done by placeing corals low in the tank and slowly moving them up closer toteh light until they are in an area where they are getting the proper amount of light, there is no exact answer to that though you just have to watch and wait to determine how "happy" the coral is, that can be determined by polyp extension and over all colorl and how the tissue looks and over longer period gorwth..

water movement is just as important as lighting but many times over looked, again though for the most part there is no exact answer to how much movement but the more turbulent indirect water movement over corals the better, you dont want to blast them with direct current from a power head. minimum i would say 10x the tank volume at least, you dont want dead spots.. there really is no limit, if you can have 100x with out a snad storm or blowing things over then its good..

the current USA outter orbits are a decent "stock" all in one lighting solution a couple of us ont eh forum use them with no complaints and good sucess you can find them on most of the online retailers the reflectors arent the best but there easy to use plug an play lighting reasonably priced..
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wow thanks for that u explained a lot i will check it out i will let you know how it all turns out as soon as i sell my other house should be soon.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

the to most important things in reef keeping that you need to have lots nad lots and lots of are patients and money..


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