advice on lighting, used mh or t5 glo

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Dont let people scare you about the hagen lights...here is what I did with two hagen units over a 20g http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...fishytimes+20g

Agreed, although I currently have a retrofit T5HO set up (4x54watt), I started with a 36" Hagen Glo fixture on my 4 ft tank with the same bulb config as you, one 10,000k & one actinic. Worked fine to get things going and even had a few soft corals sprout out of the LR on their own under that light. I also had a BTA under it for a number of months and it was fine. I've recently added 2x250 SE mogul MH on magnetic ballasts which I run for about 3 hours during the midday period, with the T5s off. I now have a few LPS corals and the added lighting is helping those along quite a bit. You'll be fine for the time being with just a few fish and this will give you time to contemplate your next move. Depending on where you want to go, corals, etc. you'll likely want to increase your lighting, whether it be T5HO or MH, maybe even LED, yikes. If you wish to add a bubble tip anemone for your clowns, it should do ok, but try to have it at up as high as you can, although they tend to move on occasion and find their own spot. There's no guarantee that the clowns will host in it, but with a little luck & patience, they'll dive in there at some point.