Lighting Requirements

[HL649]

I am starting up a 75 gal SW tank and would like to know how much lighting I will need. My tank came with a fluorescent tube in the hood but it isn't very bright. Is there any rule of thumb that I could use to estimate my lighting needs?

For the near future the tank will be FOWLR. I will be expanding to inverts and coral in the future but that will likely be at least a year or so. I want to get the tank setup and cycled well before I start expanding.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Lotus]

For a FOWLR, your current lighting is fine. If you want better viewing, a PC fixture would work.

If you decide in the future that you want a reef tank, either metal halide or T5 HO (high output) are popular choices.

The "watts per gallon" rule is basically unusable, but there are always plenty of people to give you advice about which type of lighting would work for your desired coral livestock.

 

[TRe]

like lotus said for fowlr your current lighting is fine.. however you can always replace the bulbs with 50/50 ones wich IMO look way better