Lighting

[Luke_L]

Okay so heres the deal, I have been into saltwater aquariums now for about 8 months.  I have some random coralife and Aqua-Glo and actinic lights over my tank at the moment.  But no where near enough to do much and it looks like crap.  So I built a new light fixture (beautiful red oak colour) and now I am going to get some lights and Ballasts set up for it.
I have 2 ballasts that are good for T12 lights, and I was wondering if I could use them to power T8's so that I dont have to go out and spend more money.

I have done a bit of research but I'm getting frustrated with every site giving me a different opinion on the matter but for lighting the tank I know I need basically 4 watts per gallon (35 gallon Reef).  What I would like to know is what % of that lighting should be Actinic, 10,000k, 6,700k etc.

Any advice is greatly appreciated
Thank you sooo much
Luke LeBlanc

[Vincenzo.]

the t12 ballasts wont give you the output u need.

go and get 2 work horse 7 ballasts and u can hook up like 4 39watt t5's. (more is possible)

4w/ per gallon is ok...you want to get up around 6watts or even more.

and u dont want to use 6500k to low, 10K + is what u need to shop for. the brand u get makes a diff too.

do you have individual reflector's ?

[mikerobart]

Few things we need to know... what type of corals are you interested in keeping ?

Let's throw out watts per gallon it's not a great way of describing light requirements. Also, you'd be best served by t5ho I think. You don't need an exact % actinic etc... so long as you are not ONLY using actinic bulbs that would give you not enough par.

What are the dimensions of the tank and what type of corals are you wanting to keep?

Just guessing at what I would think are the dimensions, I'd probably use 4 x 24w t5ho.. make sure you have individual reflectors. Maybe 2 blue bulbs, a 6500k bulb and a crisp white bulb. Easy to change out bulbs depending what color you want.

How much are you looking to spend?  

[mikerobart]

+1 what Vince said.. workhorse cheap and will get the job done...

if your pure sps/clams grab an icecap 660 and overdrive 4 bulbs and you'll be laughing

I was under the impression that tank would be <36" long

24" t5ho = 24 W
36" = 39w
48" = 54w
60 " = 80w

[Luke_L]

Yup yup the tank is 36"x12"
As for corals I quite like Soft Corals and Polyps mostly just beginner stuff for now since this is my first tank.

Cost is where I am struggling... I would like to get away with low cost but I am willing to spend a bit to get the proper equipment so long as its not over 200 bucks area.

As for the brands what is the best route to go?  Since I am leaning towards soft corals mostly.

[mikerobart]

Well for softies and some lps you really won't have to worry too much about getting mega par from your lighting but still want to go with good stuff. A 4 bulb t5 set up and you can keep sps no problem with good reflectors.

Shop the classifieds for good deals on lighting stuff. If I have this right you have a canopy, so your looking to do what we would call a "retro".. meaning your going to rig together some lights in your canopy and not buy a standalone fixture.

If you want to go the t5 retro route, you'll want 4 pairs of water proof endcaps, two workhorse 7's like Vince said (or any other ballast/ set of ballasts to power 4 bulbs) and your 4 bulbs... some wires... maybe 'stand offs' for the end caps if you think you need, and individual reflectors.

If you want a fixture... at <200 for a 4 bulb t5 set up looking used in classifieds is your best bet or going pretty cheap with something like this:
http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-36in-4x39W-T5-HO-Light-Fixture-Advance-p/52202.htm

This company used to have a pretty bad rep and still does to a certain extent generally not the best quality but if you take a look on reef central and other forums you will find people having success with their t5 systems although you'll want to replace the bulbs right away so that's another $100 right there keep that in mind.