Confused on lighting

Went to lfs and they said to use one bulb for this and one bulb for that. Then a friend said I can get a 50/50 bulb that does both. Then I heard that I should get a moon light bulb. I have a 20 gallon high. I'm cycling it right now. Hob filter a heater sand and Rock. Next is lighting but I just don't know what to get and also can I use just any fixture. Lfs was trying to sell me a $70 fixture that holds two bulbs. Is there a better way

 

What are you going to be doing with the tank? Fish only, Reef or Fish only with live rock?

 

If you are doing a reef tank. Get a 4 bulb T5 light. If you are doing a fish only with live rock, a 2 bulb t5, or compact light will do fine. If you are doing a fish only tank, you can just use the regular aquarium light.

You can get a 4 bulb T5 light from this company on ebay.

T5 HO Fixture, Filter items in topdogsellers store on eBay!

I have 3 of these lights, so I recomend them.

 

its going to be a ref tank i hope..lol.Thanks will look into the 4 bulb thing...So what bulbs do i need exsactly?

 

I highly suggest you buy a quality light with quality bulbs instead of the eBay route. PM member 2in10 with your query about T5 lighitng...he'll get you setup properly with what you need.

 

if you can, try to stay away from a closed hood lighting system

from my experience, its really hard to keep the tank temperatures down.
especially if youre going to go with strong lighting

 

Why spend $200-300 on a name brand, so called high quality light? I have been using my odyessea lights for almost a year now and any corals I put in my tank grows just fine. $90.00 free shipping on my 36" light. A lot of reefers on here have the same brand lights with no problems

 

I know I have said this before in other threads, but ebay lighting vs high end lighting is really a toss up to the buyer ultimately. Yes the high end lights are indeed final anser "better." The downside to this is of course the price. I'm sorry but I think for the new hobbyists cheaper is better. New hobbyists tend to run out and buy a super bells and whistle everything under the sun, when minimal is just fine for the learning stages. Then there are people that get into the hobby and find it just isnt for them. Then they take a huge loss on selling that $500 light for $150. Plus a very large portion of us that get into the hobby ultimately end up upgrading into a bigger tank, those bigger tanks with bigger knowledge and goals is where I would spend the money I saved on my ebay light to buy a nicer more quality high end light.

I like the above poster have 2 ebay lights at the moment and they work just fine for the needs I currently have. Should I go to a bigger tank I would definitely be considering a higher end light as I now have the confidence that I can provide for it and the livestock I would keep.

moral of my story? new to the hobby buy ebay.

 

I tossed around a lot of lighting options in my planning, but my final answer is Odyssea. It'll save me a lot of coin in the initial outlay. If I find it isn't workingout, I'll move it to one of my frewater tanks as an upgrade to that.

 

Check this Odyssea light. It has moon lights as well.

T5 Aquarium Lighting - Guaranteed Best Prices Online