need sugestion for lighting

[Kurt Cobain]

hi reefers.....me still new to reefing hobby..last saturday got a tank 40x12x12. thickness 8mm... from a friend of my wife..the million dollar question is...wat lighting to use for this type of tank measurement. coz thinking of going fowlr n some mushies.. by the way the tank looks, its quite shallow...fyi, it has got a built in sump on the right of the tank...any sugestion????

[evanscence]

hi bro, for mushies and folwer t5 rocks....however u know when u started out...u r always conservatives....and always end up going into clams and sps..u have to take this into considersation....it might be more economical in the long run to invest in mh....

[jellyfish]

2 pcs of 30W (2.5" T8 tubes ) Normal florecent tubes rated 6500K and above is suficcient. After adding in 3" of deep sand bed (assume that you'll set up 1) and your water at 90% full. u are left with only 8" water depth. The setup is more than enough for mushroom. It is even sufficient for LPS like touch, hammer, octopus, plate, brain & etc....

[lightningstrike]

to play safe case u would like to venture into sps or clams, etc....... why not try out T5s. juz me 2 cents.

[iewnehz]

Agree with lightingstrike... If u use only PL and FL, you will have restrictions in getting clams and corals in future(you just cannot tahan)

[Kurt Cobain]

for all ur sugestion... it will definitely help me alot.... btw any more sugestion on other reefers...?

[Zero Oxygen]

The price of a diy t5 might be cheaper than a off the shelve PL. So my opinion is go for DIY t5

[sps_dude]

get a MH set from VIct*on ..... very cheap........ for ur set up.... i think 2 ....70w MH will be enough.... IMO

[pangz]

I'm new too. I was advised by some of the reefers to go straight to MH instead of buying some other lightings and eventually leading back to buying MH. I never regretted it as all the corals have been opening much prettier after installing the MH lights. So maybe you should just go straight into MH. You wont regret it! But if heat is an issue, T5 will be great too. Good Luck with ya new tank!

[marcvelous]

Don't wish to hijack but if you are going into MH, I've got a good set for sale (due to downgrading).

The thread can be found here

Cheers