Let your lights shine!

I am about 6 months into my new saltwater fish tank. I am interested in having a reef tank and I’m really not sure if my lights will be sufficient. I have a used 112-gallon acrylic tank, and my lighting consist of 2-Sunpaq 65-watt Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm and 2-Sunpaq 65-watt Dual Daylight 6,700k/10,000K. Is this lighting sufficient for maintaining a reef tank? Also, should I start adding reef supplement to the tank even if I have no coral? And if so, what supplements should I add?

 

A good rule to follow is 5 watts of lighting per gal. for most corals and 7-9 watts per gal. for stonies. If you have 112 gals, you should be some where around 560 watts. Before you go and spend alot of $, you need to ask yourself what kind of corals do you want to have, now and in the near future. If some time in the future you want to have stonies, you will need metal hilades. I have a 75 gal tank with 692 watts of light( 9 x 75 = 675). I'm just a little over, but its ok. The only draw back to MH's is that they can/will be expensive and product alot of heat.

 

Also keep in mind that with the new technology currently available its not all about the watts. For example 4 54w T5 bulbs(216w total) is comparable to 1 400w metal halide. Like lunatik said decide what light you want depending on what you want to keep or will want to keep in the future. I would either go with T5s or a Metal Halide with Vho for supplement.

 

You can buy a 400 watt ballast for just around $100, if you are planning on keeping SPS's in the future I wouldn't choose the T5's, they do not penetrate water depth very good. With a Halide you will be able to keep anything under it with good water parameters. My $.02

 

^+1 MH is the only way to go for tall tanks. Anything over a 55 is too big for T5 IMO.

 

I have T5s on a 90 gallon and they seem ok. But that is considering my tank is only 20" tall since the tank is 5 ft long. But i agree MH are definitely good for sps.

 

Metal Halides do the job the best. There are T5s that are pretty good too and give a pretty darn good light output, yet it still can't compare with the power of Metal halides.

 

How about solartubes? free power,lol

 

Let me clarify that. If you want LPS or SPS you need to place the corals REALLY HIGH in the tank for T5s to work over that much gallonage

 

The lighting and irradiance issue/watts per gallon is great and very important, and yea, I love metal halides!!!!
This being said however, your water parameters and other variables will need to be in check to afford you the success that you are looking for IMO. If, for example you have too much dissolved organic or particulate matter in your water column(pelagic area) of your tank, then the watts per gallon things is not a safe assumption, since these pollutants/matter is depriving some of the irradiance needed for your corals success and vibrant coloration.