good lighting

[sleepercivic88]

I recently noticed a button polyp on a piece of lr I bought a week ago. I have completely inadaquate lighting for coral of any kind. I have the standard 36" 40watt florecent lamp that came standard on my 46gal bowfront tank. The one button polyp seems to be doing fine. What is a good begineer lighting set up. Should i buy some aluminum and a ballast and light from a company such as digikey and retrofit my existing hood with metal halides. thanks

Jon

 

[bertoni]

Metal halide lighting is a fine way to go, IMO. You could also get some higher-output fluorescent lighting. What kind of animals do you want to keep?

 

[rbp 4 135]

Yes metal halides would be a great option for you, i suppose you coud retrofit your existing canopy just be sure to protect the bulbs from getting splashed. :eek1: Also put a fan in the hood to disperse the hot air form the halides, so that your tank doesn't heat up.

 

[sleepercivic88]

I am just running a FOWLR set up currently but im getting reef compatible fish so that i could up grade when i feel comfortble with saltwater. This is my first salt water set up. I plan to run mostly soft coral in the future. Also I need to buy a clean up crew for my tank how many turbo snails and blue leged herm crabs would you suggest for 46 gal.

 

[Andrew]

I would only get a few turbo snails and get around around 30-40 other snails such as a mixture of Astrea Snails, Cerith Snailss, and Nassarius Snails. Maybe 10-20 blue leg hermits also.

 

[bertoni]

I avoid hermits now because they're predatory. For that size tank, I might start with 6 cerith and 6 Trochus snails, plus perhaps some Stomatella.