I am planning to upgrade my 55g FO to a 90 or 125g FOWLR and would like to add some inverts and corals. Probably mushroom corals, leathers, feather dusters, zoas, clove polyps; pretty much staying in the easy to care for hardy species. Since I have never had to worry about lighting with my FO what would be necessary in terms of what I would need from a lighting standpoint...any suggestions will help; thanks
New tank
- Thread starter thekidace
- Start date
crumbletop
New member
for a 90 with those inhabitants, PC lighting would be fine. I think 4x65W would do. You could also go 4x54W T5s which would give you more options in the future if you want to keep things that like more light.
Jack
Jack
Fiziksgeek
New member
I would go with the larger 125. PC, VHO, or T5 would work just fine, assuming its a standard 24" deep.
Just realize that once you start keeping corals, you will get bitten by the coral bug.
You'll wanna keep adding to the collection, and once you have a few species of mushrooms, GSP, Xenia, etc., you'll want to move onto bigger and better corals, such as Euphyllia (Frogspawn, Hammer) and Brains which require more light.
Quite a few hobbyists are content to stop here. Others, myself included, get the SPS bug and unless you have really strong lighting, you won't make it.
Money may be an issue, it almost always is for me, but try to think longterm when deciding on your lights. The last thing you want is to keep upgrading as you go, because you'll be losing money in the longrun.
If cost is an issue, I'd suggest the T5 route or even VHO's. PC are nice (had em in the beginning) but the other lighting is much more efficient. Metal Halides would be nice to get into IF you think you may want to try other corals down the road. They look nice, and will allow you to keep about anything you want, but the initial cost is more.
HTH
You'll wanna keep adding to the collection, and once you have a few species of mushrooms, GSP, Xenia, etc., you'll want to move onto bigger and better corals, such as Euphyllia (Frogspawn, Hammer) and Brains which require more light.
Quite a few hobbyists are content to stop here. Others, myself included, get the SPS bug and unless you have really strong lighting, you won't make it.
Money may be an issue, it almost always is for me, but try to think longterm when deciding on your lights. The last thing you want is to keep upgrading as you go, because you'll be losing money in the longrun.
If cost is an issue, I'd suggest the T5 route or even VHO's. PC are nice (had em in the beginning) but the other lighting is much more efficient. Metal Halides would be nice to get into IF you think you may want to try other corals down the road. They look nice, and will allow you to keep about anything you want, but the initial cost is more.
HTH
