Proper lighting

[bjtrapjr]

I was wondering how do you determine what kind, how much, and how long for lights

 

[pyithar]

people mostly use Led, t5, and metal halides. it's your choice really. some people even mix led+t5 while some mix halides+t5 and so on. there're plenty of brands and the prices vary with the manufacturers so you'll need to search online to see the price of the lighting that you like. after that you can determine how long you should turn on the lights by asking on forums or google.
i run led for my tank and as for lighting hours; blue from 11am to 9pm and white from 12pm to 6pm.

 

[Titans_Reef]

It just depends on your preference of light. I had 2 4 bulb t-5 lights on my 125g which grew softies, some sps and lps. I upgraded my lights to 3 OceanRevive t247 since I want to keep anemones in the tank and t5 lights wasnt enough light. They seem like they are all doing fine with the acclimation to the new light and the anemones are doing great. My 40g breeder has a 175w MH with 2 455nm actinic led lights. For time it just depends on how long you want it on and/ or how your corals are doing. I run my MH for 4hrs a day so I can feed my fish and I only have GPS in the tank so its enough light for them. My 125g I run my LED lights for 9hrs. It also depends on size of the tank and how deep it is. T5 lights are great for shallow tanks and somewhat deep depending on how many bulbs the fixture is while MH are great for deeper tanks but may require more then 1 depending on the size of the tank. LED lights can be dimmed so they can be used on both shallow and deep tanks.

 

[rocsec1]

What is in your tank will decide what you need for lighting. Fish need less coral needs more.
I use reefbreeders led fixtures and I really like them.

 

[bjtrapjr]

Right now I have 1 Saddleback clown, a lta, a bta, a couple mushroom frags and 1 other frag can't remember the name of it right now but I have a 29 gal standard measurements