lighting design

[ta2rtst]

im about to start my first salt water tank and i plan to go for an sps. im also building the tank into a wall in my studio and planning to design everything for ease of maintanence and set up. but im wondering if having lights on the side of the tank would be beneficial as i plan to have display units on each side of the tank and i could utilize the light for both the tank and the displays. my only concern is that since the light would be coming from the side would it mess with some of the creatures in the tank? i also thought that it might help the growth of some corals and maybe even change their shape through the way they grow. any suggestions?

dustin

 

[chatyak]

What do you mean display units on the sides of the display tank? I would stick with the lights from the top... it would be m uch too bright for the critters to look head on into I would imagine.

 

[ta2rtst]

display units for glass jewelery. i was planning on making them lit up and they are so close to the sides of the tank that i figured it might work to utilize the lights for both purposes. ive just never seen a tank that has a bit of light comming from the sides so i was wondering if there was a specific reason for it.