Help!!!! I need some info on lighting

hi,im new on here and to reefs and anemones,as a matter of fact im new to saltwater in general.i have what i believe to be a 54 gallon corner rounded tank.i have a 30" double power compacts ficture w/moonlight and a built in fan.its a little harder to find lights 30" at a good price.i was told that pc's are not strong enough for my bubble tip anemone.i also have candy cane coral and pulsating xenias.planing on getting some more soon.my problem is im trying to find out what the best lighting i can get would be(like everyone else on a budget)i found a mh fixture on ebay 250 watts but not sure if thats good because that did not come with actnitics.just mh and some moon lights.someone give me some good info please...

 

Corner tanks are tricky when it comes to lighting. IMO the best thing would be a metal halide pendant. 250W would be plenty for that size tank. With metal halides, you don't need actinics. I run a phoenix 14k 150W on my tank without actinic supplementation. Some people do use actinics though. It's mostly about the color you want. I think a 14k bulb produced nice color itself. Keep an eye out on craigslist/ebay and you should be able to find something.

 

Well, a corner tank is notoriously hard to find a fixture for that will cover the entire area. Your best best IMO would be to get a MH pendant. 250w would work well. If you use a 14K or higher bulb, you really don't need to supplement actinics. Remember, actinic lighting is used to help with color as the light that reaches many corals is more blue due to the depth of the water. However, it's not necessary. There are many corals that are in very shallow water where the Kelvin temperature of the light may only be 7K or 10K.

You can possible build a custom hood to house either the MH pendant and then you can add T5 supplements as a retro fit kit or just use T5s. You can also look for a T5 pendant or a MH with a T5 pendant. You have a lot of possibilites and it may seem confusing, but just take your time and ask questions.

 

how about a 2X1200k and 2xactinc t5ho fixture?they got one on ebay for less than 100.00.sounds good to me.

 

just not sure if its enough lighting

 

so is it enough lighting?????

 

Should work OK, just make sure you put the more light needing animals on or near the top of your rocks.

 

anemone,he goes where he wants.lol.i can move him everyday for a month and he will still go where he likes.so you thinkl thats good lighting?or would it be better to get one metal halide 250 watt with 4 leds.?

 

Yeah nems do what they want. I would order new bulbs from ReefGeek > Aquarium Supplies for Marine, Reef, and Saltwater Aquariums and replace the stock bulbs right away. Buy 2 ATI blue plus, 1 ATI aquablue Special and 1 UVL Actinic White. Those bulbs will give you much more usable and colorful light. It will keep the nem happy once it finds a place it likes and will make you colors pop. It will run you about another $100 more. Save the stock bulbs for emergency.

 

not sure what those are.i currently have pc's.in a fixture.they look good but apparently not good enough.