46g Bow front lighting help

[Altohombre]

Ok I think I am gonna take the plunge and change my mind from just a FOWLR to a Reef. So I need lights for my 46g Bowfront. Dimensions are 36x16x21
my rocks aren't that high (no more than halfway up tank) so there will be no corals too close to the lights. In addition I have a 2.5 inch sandbed. Some features I am interested in but don't need to have are: moon lighting and the sunrise/sunset feature.

I really don't have a clue about corals at all, so lets just say I would like to be able to go to the LFS and see a coral and know that I could put it in my tank and not have to worry about my lights.

Another big concern is that my tank is directly under our thermostat and I would like lights that would not impact the temperature or be too noisy.

I ideally would like to keep my budget in the $250 or under range. Is there anything out there for me?

[fatman]

A 21" deep tank would be well lit by a 250 watt Halide, which would allow you to grow any form of stoney coral in any where in the tank and soft corals in the lower third of the tank. However, your thermostat will need protection for any good lighting source you choose, whether it be halide, VHO, T5 or Power Compact. If you get serious with stoney corals, the only truly good light source is the halide. The others fall short for SPS corals at anything over about 12 inches depth. One good thing also about the halide is that it is easier to channel heat from a centralized small area than from a broader spread out area such as the other lighting choices. This requires nothing more than a fan(s), which in your case should exhaust from the end(s) of the lighting fixture instead of the top of he fixture. Better yet, a fixture with an intake fan on one side of fixture and an exhaust fan in the other side of fixture. A HQI fixture is more efficient than a (old style) Mogul bulb fixture. The best lighting arrangement is usually a HQI halide with supplemental lighting supplied by power compact(s). The halide provides the light intensity and the proper spectrum for optimal coral health and growth and the power compact(s) supplies the supplemenatl blue spectrum light that makers viewing better and makes the colors pop. Moon lights are standard in all the really good lighting fixtures now days. (1) An Aqualight Pro is a great light, I use the 696 watt fixture on my 120 gallon tanks. Your best choice would be one of the 280 Watt fixtures. Sadly they are expensive at $450 t0 $500, with halide, power compacts and lunar lights. Plus they only come with a 150 watt HQI halide , not the preferable 250 watt. (2) Outer Orbit makes cheaper lights, Outer Orbit HQI/Compact Flourscent/Lunar Light with electronic ballasts and the side fans that would work better for you. I think the quality possibly a little lower, but the set up would fit your needs better and the price is less at this time. However it is also only available with a 150 watt HQI halide. (3) Outer Orbits Pro Series HQI/T-5/LED Lights combo is even more expensive than the Aqualight Pro, but they come with the preferred 250 watt HQI halide, two T-5 blue spectrum lights and 12 moon lights. Plus they come with side fans and built two built in electronic light timers. The price is $100 dollars more than the Aqualight pro, and $150 more than the Outer orbit Halide,/ Power compact fixture, both of which only have 150 Watt halides. Really, although expensive the best deal for your needs is the most expensive choice. As you can see all the lighting for the assurance of fitting any corals needs is about double what you would like to spend. Not surprised are you?

[reeffreak]

You absolutely do not need to go with MH to be unlimited on corals for your size tank.All you have to do is visit Reef Central SPS keeper threads.There some beautiful SPS dominant reefs running under all T5's.However,I know of no fixture that will allow you to keep all corals for $250 and under.The Nova Extreme($180) are a T5-HO fixture with lunars.You should be able to keep soft,LPS and possibly some SPS,clams.Others here has kept SPS with that fixture but I'm not convince its good enough long term.

This fixture comes the closest to your pricewise.You should be unlimited but I recommend changing the bulbs.The slimpaq bulbs have poor PAR compared to other T5 bulbs like the ATI and UV bulbs.
36" Nova Extreme Pro 6x39watt T5HO 10K/460nm: Premium Aquatics

I like this one better-better individual reflectors than the Nova Pro but cost $50 more without bulbs.
Sunlight Tek Light T5 Hood - 36" x 6 bulb: Premium Aquatics

The Aquactinics are even more expensive than the Tek so I didn't bother linking that fixture.

[Altohombre]

which unit do you think would run cooler temperatures and lessen the swing on my thermostat?

So for the Sunkight Tek it would be the 350 + 125 for lights making it $475.

Crap, I have the money, but I am being cheap.

The Nova Extreme is 120 bucks cheaper than the pro and if i have to get new lights that would be about 125 more, still making it $305. Hmm that might be more my level, since I am not even sure I can keep 1 coral let alone difficult ones that need crazy light.

[reeffreak]

You would really need to wait 6 months for your tank to mature before trying SPS corals.That will give you plenty of time to change at least half of the Nova Pro bulbs with better ones.Get that one if price is an issue.

All three fixtures will run cool.The Novas have built in fans so they will run cooler than the Tek fixture.

[Altohombre]

would you say that the corals that need better light like the SPS and clams are cooler looking than the rest of the corals. I have tried to research which coral is which but I don't really see a big difference from pictures. If I can make an awesome looking reef full of bright and differing colors from just running a Nova Extreme, I may be interested in that rather than shelling out 150 more that I could spend on my first corals. If you think these SPS corals and clams help make the reef then I may be in a tough situation. I dunno even how much stuff in terms of corals I can fit in a 46g with 60lbs live rock anyway.

[RyanG]

Crap, I have the money, but I am being cheap.

Quit being a cheap ass

[Altohombre]

It is kinda hard to justify to people that I am spending this much money on a fish tank when I still live in an apartment with 2 roommates, am not in a job that can support a future family on, and can tell my girlfriend not to buy more shoes because she needs to pay for books while I go spend $1500 on a hobby within 2 months. Right now I have money to spend, but that is also future money I will prob need to spend on life things. LOL at myself.

[reeffreak]

You can have different color,bright corals with the Nova Extreme.SPS do have some awesome colors but there are some LPS and softies that have awesome color too.Many of us been in this hobby a while now.SPS is more difficult which is sort of a progression for us.We all done the soft and LPS,the next logical step to gravitate towards SPS.

[Altohombre]

thanks reef, how come I cant find any info about your Aquatinic Constellation lights. I just wanted to check them out, but there is nothing on google about them.