Deep 55gal Lighting?

I've read so much on water quality, fish, and everything else you need.....so when i got to lights my brain kinda blew up....wattage...K's.....Par....im confused.

I have a 55 gal that i wish to make my full reef tank. its a deep tank and what im worried about is getting the right penetration into the water that i need. the tank is 30" long 18" wide and 24" deep.

I know it depends on what type of corals i want to keep. but that i am not sure yet. so far i just have some shrooms, zoos and green favia. i have tons of room for more corals which im not sure what i want yet. but i like the colorful polyps. and i know i want a small clam.

What i have on there right now is a Coralife 24" light 36 wat True Actinic, and 36 watt 10k daylight. and i know that is not nearly enough. but it was better than what came with the tank. I have a smaller tank that this light is going to. i just want to be sure to buy the right lights for my 55gal so i dont have to switch out in the future.

Thanks.

BillyD

 

Does your tank have a center brace? If not, I would say go with a single 250W halide with actinic supplementation.

 

if you get the right bulb you may get away with just one mh bulb without actinics

 

Hey, I bought my fixture on E-bay From this guy "hombby" they sell tons of lights and I love the light I got from them I saved tons of $ and he has one for sale in a 24" size check out this e-bay item number 140200627081 this guys lights are the best value around and I think the shipping was free too

 

No question your lights need an upgrade for almost any kind of reef life.

Depending on degree of upgrade, start out with some soft corals and see how they do before adding anything else.

Good Luck.