About a year ago, being very new to the hobby, I purchased a 50 Gallon Uniquarium. At the time I thought it would be fine since I actually got it for my son who wanted to have his own Nemo.
I had planned on having a FOWLR from the start so the LFS sold me a cheap fluorescent light fixture which consists of 1 white bulb and 1 actinic bulb.
Now I'm considering getting some corals but I won't be going all out. I've been looking at the different types of lights and it seems like Metal Halides are the best but are also very expensive. Power Compacts seem fine for my budget but i've heard that T5s are much better.
The problem is that even though my tank does have 50 gallons of water, it only has about 30 gallons in the main show chamber. Since it's a uniquarium, about 4 inches of the back portion has been separated from the front to fit the thermometer, heater, skimmer, wet/dry filter, and pumps.
This leads me to a lot of confusion when picking lights because I'm not sure if I should be looking at lights for a 30 gallon or 50 gallon. I'm looking for suggestions on an upgrade that will allow me to get a few corals and will be fairly inexpensive.
The top of my tank is 36" wide. The canopy allows about 9 inches of depth and about 3 inches of height. Oh and the height of the tank overall is prolly 20" or so.
Any help is appreciated.
I had planned on having a FOWLR from the start so the LFS sold me a cheap fluorescent light fixture which consists of 1 white bulb and 1 actinic bulb.
Now I'm considering getting some corals but I won't be going all out. I've been looking at the different types of lights and it seems like Metal Halides are the best but are also very expensive. Power Compacts seem fine for my budget but i've heard that T5s are much better.
The problem is that even though my tank does have 50 gallons of water, it only has about 30 gallons in the main show chamber. Since it's a uniquarium, about 4 inches of the back portion has been separated from the front to fit the thermometer, heater, skimmer, wet/dry filter, and pumps.
This leads me to a lot of confusion when picking lights because I'm not sure if I should be looking at lights for a 30 gallon or 50 gallon. I'm looking for suggestions on an upgrade that will allow me to get a few corals and will be fairly inexpensive.
The top of my tank is 36" wide. The canopy allows about 9 inches of depth and about 3 inches of height. Oh and the height of the tank overall is prolly 20" or so.
Any help is appreciated.
