quick lighting question

[saporito1978]

i am new to the saltwater fish hobby. i currently have a 55gallon FOWLR set up. its one of those starter tanks that come with their ownan 18" 15 watt flourescents in each hood. my question is what kind of fixtures and lighting can i purchase to help improve the lighting quality of my fish and live rock? can it be mounted to the top of my hood. and are there any suggestions of websites that offer fair deals?
saporito1978

[ClintoninCali]

If you want to keep the hoods that you got with the tank there is not much you can do. If you feel that the lights you have are not very bright and would just like the light to be brighter with the existing hoods then pick up a couple of trichromatic flourescent bulbs at your LFS. They usually cost twice as much as the ones you just bought but the light is a much more intense white. Brings out a little more color in the fish and rock.

All the fish need is a constant night and day cycle. Turning your lights on and off at apporpriate times will give them this with any bulbs. To grow coralline algae on your liverock, however, is opening up a can of worms. You'll have to replace the hoods that came with the tank to get the type of lighting that will provide the spectrum that the rock requires to grow the algae. If you don't want to go too hard core into this and blow a grand easily (we wish we could), then look into corralife power compact bulbs. They have some pretty inexpensive setups that come in their own hood with fans and individual switches for each bulb. Pretty cool for less than 200 bones on some sites.

[saporito1978]

thanks for the info. any good websites you recommend that offer fair deals on lighting?

[Poseidon]

Check out the sponsors pages here. I have shopped at Premium Aquatics and love their service/Prices.

Oh Ya... WElcome to REEFLAND!!!

[ClintoninCali]

Yeah, I don't know Fosters and Smith probably has it. I order my stuff straight from Central Distributors.