Lighting Question

[SeaSydney]

I have a 46 gal bow front tank - 36Lx15Wx20H.
I intend to put in about 2-3" sand and about 70-80lbs of Fiji rock. I plan on keeping things like xenias, leathers, brains, hammer and things of that kind. There will be a 10gal sump with an overflow. I currently have a Red Sea Berlin Skimmer.

With all that said, my questions are: -
1. What is my best option for lighting with effeciency, quality and reliability in mind?
2. Will this skimmer suffice and what size pump will I need to drive it properly?

Thanks guys

 

[Anonymous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SeaSydney:
<STRONG>With all that said, my questions are: -
1. What is my best option for lighting with effeciency, quality and reliability in mind?
2. Will this skimmer suffice and what size pump will I need to drive it properly?
</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As for lighting, PC lighting or VHO should do nicely.

Red Sea Berlin is a so-so skimmer. You'll want a mag7 to run it.

 

[SeaSydney]

How many watts will I need and what would ne a better skimmer that would not drain my bank account? Thank you for your help.

 

[Sniper308]

I currently have a 46g bow front reef also. I am using 2-96w Power Compacts (1-actinic,1-6500k). My coral responce has been excellent. I have a friend who has the same skimmer and he uses a rio 2500. I know rio's get some bad rap here but Ive been using them for years and have yet to have a problem with them. I just purchaced a new skimmer last week and it came with a rio 1800 attatched. It looks to me like they have beefed up the casing and power wire to a much larger better built design. Hopefully this will end gripes between reefers and Rio.
I have a small page but have not updated it since the addition of my PC lighting and the addition of my corals. You can look at the link just to get an Idea of a 46 bow stocked with rock. Its probably only about a 20g tank now. LOL.My First Reef Tank

 

[fishfarmer]

I have a 38 gal, similar dimensions minus the bow. Mine is lit with 175 W MH and 2 x 28 W PC. This package is more than enough for my needs, over 6 WPG. I have an assortment of softies, two LPS and encrusting SPS. Xenia, anthelia and GSP grow out of control in my tank. I have the MH offset in the hood with the PC on the other side, gives me some low light areas on the far side. I was running the tank with just the MH, but didn't like the way the tank looked with the center brace casting shadows, but at 4 WPG it grew xenia/anthelia well directly under the bulb.

My main tank has a 1" bed and about 40 lbs of rock. My rock is stacked so light demanding corals are under the MH and low light corals are near the bottom or shaded. Click on my tank specs at the bottom for a full list of my corals.

 

[SeaSydney]

Thank you guys for your replies. I was away for the weekend thus not able to thank you before.