Saltwater Tank Lights

It is very important to have the highest powered light that you can purchase on your saltwater tank. Without a high powered light, your hard and soft coral will not stay alive. As a matter of fact, even Button Polyps will not live without a high powered light. You can not purchase a freshwater tank and use the light that comes with that setup. High powered lights are essential and required for all invertebrates and types of coral. Your live rock will also really benefit from the light. If you have a 55 gallon tank you can purchase a light which is approximately 48'' in length. You will need a light which matches up to the length of your tank. You will know the good metal halide lights because they actually arch above the fish tank on what appears to look like a stand.

Without a good lighting system you will not be able to trust where you can place all of the items in your fish tank. If you are searching for a particular piece of coral and it tells you to place it at the bottom of the tank, even the top of the tank will not be good enough. You will need to place all coral on the top level of your aquarium to get as much light as possible, which means you wont be able to place any coral or invertebrates on the bottom or middle of your fish tank. The problem with these good lighting systems is that they can be very expensive. You can expect to spend at least $200 for a good lighting system.

Now, you might not be able to afford a good lighting system after purchasing the whole fish tank. You may walk into the pet store with a thousand dollars, which you think will be enough but you quickly find out and fish tanks are expensive by the time you purchase all of the accessories. You will need to purchase the tank itself which will probably cost you around $100 for your average 55 gallon tank. You will also want to purchase a stand that the fish tank will rest on. This will also cost you at least another $300. You can purchase a canopy but as I quickly found out it might not fit over the expensive halide lighting setups. You might just want to wait until after you have purchased the lighting systems. These systems will prop up a couple of inches (up to 6 inches) above your fish tank. They are actually quite appealing and you may not want to cover them up anyways. You will also need a canister filter or two if you want a lot of coral because they need a lot of water movement you may need to hook up one canister filter on each side for maximum water movement. You will spend another $250 on two canister filters. Live rock, live sand, salt, a heater will cost you around another $250. Before you know it, you can't afford the light.

Now, if you can't purchase the light right away you can use the light with the freshwater setup for fish. Do not purchase any types of invertebrates until you can afford to buy this lighting system. One of the best lighting systems to buy is one which has four bulbs. Two of them will kick on during the day and the other day will turn on at night for night time viewing. You will need at least two 54 watt bulbs to have enough light to keep some of these corals alive. You might want to check on eBay for good deals on aquarium lighting systems.