Lighting. How much?

[BCOrchidGuy]

I'm very happy with two 175 MHs with two actinics


To figure out your cost of running them, figure your total wattage, 2 x 175 = 350 PLUS 2 x 40 actinics = 430 watts total.... Electricity is calculated as Kilowatt hours so for every 1000 watts you use for 1 hour you get charged your rate, in Burnaby we pay $0.05/KWh... so lets just round it off to 400 watts, you could run your lights for 2 1/2 hours before you had to pay out your nickle.

I would run MH 10 - 12 hours a day depending on what you are going to keep, OH BTW, Flame scallops don't do well in captivity. Cost ... shop around, you can get your ballast and fixture from a hydroponics shop for a couple hundered bucks, the bulb will be another hundred or so. You can add one MH light and then add a second if your budget is tight.

If you really want my opinion on stuff to start with, Start out with Xenia, Anthellia, Montipora digitata, and some leather corals and colt corals, they are all hardy and will do well for you with moderate light. The Monti digitata will do best with MH though... heck everything will in my opinion.