Lighting

[fishykisses]

This may be a stupid question but is there such thing as too much light in a marine tank?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yes. Lighting will mostly depend on what you want to keep. PC, Fluorescent & T5 lighting - not so much. Metal halides and LEDs, yes you can "burn" your corals with lights that are too powerful. If you want to keep clams or sps (high light species), then you want powerful lighting. If you want easy to keep corals like leathers and LPS, then medium lighting is good enough. Fish-only, doesn't matter what light you use as long as you can see the fish.


For coral reef setups:

Shallow tanks - T5HOs
2' deep tanks - max. for T5HOs or 150w/175w MH
29"+ deep tanks - 250w MH minimum or high powered LED or 400w MH (sps heavy tanks)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Another thing to consider is that if you go with too powerful a lighting system for what you're keeping, you're just wasting money on the lights and the electricity needed (ie. paying to light 400w metal halides over a fish-only tank).

[fishykisses]

that's true, the reason i ask is i found these lights on ebay and they're a really good price but i'm thinking the lighting may be too high for 55g, you're right about the electricity for sure too.but what do you think anyway?

48" T5 HO Lighting Aquarium Light Hood Marine Coral Reef 432W 8x 54W Lamps | eBay

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Even at $20/bulb (most are more for a 4' T5HO reef bulb), you're looking at $160 a year in replacement bulb costs (might need to spend this right away if the unit is used). Personally, I can't justify that kind of added cost. 4 bulb would be plenty for what you're wanting to do (208w vs 416w). Huge difference on your hydro bill too.