lights?

[Gilraen]

I think I finally found a home for my goldfish for after I move mid-year(hoping!) and that would leave me free to use either my 29 gallon(the goldie tank) or my 20 gallon(betta tank) as my reef, and just keep my bettas in the other of the two. I have the feeling that money will decide which I use, though. What would be the best lighting for either of those? I really don't want to use MH lighting, since the fixtures I've seen are really expensive.

Right NOW, I have 2 65 watt PC lights, and I could put both of those over either tank or I could get a T5 fixture in place of one of them, if that would be better.

For coral stocking, I have(currently) some zoas and FL rics and a few LPS, and when we move and I have my tank set up and stable again, I want to stick with getting more FLs and more LPS for the tank. No plans for SPS or clams, although I could post the LPS I am interested in if any of them might need a lot more light.

Thank you! I'm still trying to not go by just what the fish store near me was always telling me to get for my tank, and I figure asking is better than messing up and not having enough light again!

 

[Michael]

hi-gilraen, glad you found a home for the goldfish, id suggest t5s,theres lots of units available on the market, definately use the 29 rather than the 20, i see you have a bout 2 years experience but i always recommend to new members at reef central to look here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074 its a great thread with lots of information, regardless of experience and i think you should have a good read, also

[welcome]

 

[Gilraen]

I'll go with the 29 then At least it will give me a bit more room for LPS, since they're my favourites. Would 2 of these http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...currentusanovaextreme302x24wt510000ksaltwater work well? Not much light, but it is good light, right? Plus I wouldn't have enough room on top of the tank for another fixture if I did those(both of them should be about 8.5" and I think the tank is 12.5" wide using outside dimensions?) Or how much more would I need than that?

With flow rates(okay, tagging onto my own thread with another question!) it is supposed to be between 10-20X the size of the tank, right? I'm thinking about doing a foam/rock wall like in the thread here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1375191&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 I've got a rena canister filter that I was wondering if I can use for it? It'll add about 3 gallons of water(total) and 350 GPH to the system, and I can set it up quite easily so it only has a filter sock and possibly something like purigen(sp?) that won't collect debris, and just make sure it is not collecting gunk when I do water changes. Or I've got a maxi jet 1200 (295 GPH, right?) that I can put on with another smaller powerhead to move the water around.

Besides, most of that 2 years is listening to a fish store and not actually doing enough of my own research I'm reading the links!