Looking for lighting for my 55 gal

I just setup a 55 gal and everything is looking great. I just stopped by my LFS to look at lighting. They quoted me 250 for what they recommend. Which looked to me like a stepup from normal house lighting. I am looking for recomendations. I plan on both hard and soft coral with minimal fish. If anyone has one for sale that would fit my needs that would be great also. Agian I am a newbie and would be more then happy to answear any questions. Thanks to all as this site has been a great place for information and saving me $$$.

 

You would need to know what it was they were showing you. t-5's PC's(power compacts), or MH (metal halides). but for lighting IMO either t-5's or MH or both are the way to go.
I would stay away from pc's.

 

a lot of people have there doubt about PC's i will not deny t5's are the latest and greatets metal halides are good but super expensive I have a PC setup and has done good by me but if your tryin to save money i would go between PC and t5 but like i said there differences of opinions as far as whats the best. I have a 250watt 10,000k and actinic03 setup they bulbs i got with it sucked but i recently got some hamilton's and my corals are happy

 

true opinons will very but in the long run if he wants to keep sps pc's aren't going to cut it, The reason I says this is I just upgraded to t5's after having pc's on my tank for close to 3 yrs (4x65w currents pc's) all I can say is what a difference also on pc's the bulbs usually have to be replaced every six months that get's really expensive.

 

I do agree T5's are highly diserable I was also thinking of getting some myself but all I plan on keeping is softies

 

I would go with a 4 x 54watt T5 HO or a 6 x 54watt fixture. I couldnt tell you a good brand but there are quite a few decent ones. Also consider what type of reflectors are being used. Are they just a flat panel in the fixture or are there indavidual reflectors for each bulb.