Lighting: as an example [I'm no expert at lighting] ---I run a 54 corner tank with one 250 watt 10,000 k metal halide, in a fixture set on a fake tank rim 9" above the water surface, and flanked by 2 actinics---I run all lights together for about 6 hours and the actinics only (separate timer: get timers from Lowes) for an hour before and and an hour after the mh cuts in: hence I have a dawn and twilight in my tank. This one mh gives me good coverage in my wedge tank, and makes the pretty ripples work, like strong sun on clear water. This lets me keep anything from softies (which have to be on the bottom, and somewhat sheltered from the light) to sps corals, which want to be on top of the highest rock, and which love bright light and hyper clean water. I have a middle of the road skimmer, and do not maintain hyperclean water---I have a busy life, I travel, and yes, I have some particulate in the water, which cuts down on how much lights get to the corals. So what thrives insanely in my tank is lps (large polyp stony, particularly hammer and frogspawn)---it doubles in size every few months, and since it now covers all my rockwork, this is a wall-to-wall condition. (I also supplement calcium, via kalk drip, which is how I feed this monster).
But metal halide is extremely spendy, and the bulbs burn---not OUT---but DOWN, becoming bad in 6-8 months. MH is beginning to be replaced by LED lights, which use less power, and go a long time without going 'off' in spectrum. Pricey to start but cheap to operate and no frequent replacement cost.
Next down is T5, which can keep LPS corals quite nicely, and again, use less power and are cheaper to replace.
Common T8's are perfectly fine for fish-onlies.
And a little old household CFL bulb at 6500k is just fine for your fuge lighting (refugium: a green plant area in your sump.)
. I used 140lb. live sand because it was pushed on me, but after reading this ( most, first four pages then skipped to post), Is it too late to add dry sand to increase the sand bed? Will everything still work itself out or will i run into issues?
