BRAND new at this

Hello 3reef community

I've been reading these forums for awhile and picking up tid-bits of information about starting a saltwater aquarium, but I'm still a huge newbie.

I bought a 75g tank from a friend in the area and he suggested I buy a RO/DI filter to fill the aquarium. First I bought some substrate (CaribSea Caribbean Live Sand) After, I bought a 5-stage Tyhpoon III off of AWI and started filling the tank.

I have a Marineland 360 Canister filter that's currently pumping and clearing up the water (it's been running for about 3 days now), two Aqueon Powerhead 700s, and an Aqueon 150W heater.

I haven't mixed the salt into the tank yet, but I'm probably going to do that this week.

My BIGGEST concern/question right now is LIGHTING.

We're buying Live Rock soon and we'll probably upgrade to Coral down the road. From the research I've done it seems that LED lights are mostly used for Coral/reef tanks, Metal Halides are extremely expensive and HO T5s are just the way to go for FO/FOWLR.

Please give me some feedback. This forum is full of experienced and knowledgeable people.

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the hobby. Everyone has their own opinion about lighting, so here is mine.

Long answer:
T5 and MH can grow any coral under the sun. They difference is that MH is more powerful and "shimmers". LED's also have the metal halide shimmer. LED's will likely cost you more than metal halide but they will run cooler and last for years and years. As for me, I have owned both MH and T-5. I find that T-5 run much cooler than mh, cost less, and give more consistent results as far as coral growth. I have never bleached any corals with my T-5 whereas my mh bleached them all the time, especially with new bulbs. I also like that I get about a year from my T5 bulbs. My mh had to change bulbs every 6 months or so.

I like to compare metal halide to using a flamethrower to cook a marshmallow. Others will disagree with me.

Short answer:
Buy T-5. Much less headaches and they are cheaper all around. Supplement with some small LED's to get some shimmer.
**The exception for metal halides are deep tanks. T-5 won't suffice for deep tanks.

 

Thank you for the response. I kinda felt like MH was overkill too .

Do many other people feel the same way?

 

ive had t5, mh, and LEDs, and leds are hands down my favorite. but you will pay a cubic boat load for them. if i was you, new to teh hobby and all, id get a nice t5 fixture, one that has at least 4 bulbs, the more the better, and itll last you a good long while.