Required Lighting

[Coral Commander]

I currently have a 55 gallon tank. I have a couple of fish as well as some mushrooms, green star polyps and a sea anemone. The lighting I have now is 2 dual-bulbs that are approximately 3 feet in length. One of the bulbs is solid white and the other is a white and blue bulb. I am looking to replace the blue/white bulb as it has burned out. I am not sure what brand the bulb is, however, the information on the bulb can be found at:

http://www.current-usa.com/sunpaq.html

The model number is 2045. The bulb is rated at 96 watts. I am wondering if this is adequate or perhaps too much lighting. What would be the minimum light requirements to sustain an average amount of hard and soft coral? What would be too much light?

Since the light has burned out, I have been using the other white bulb which has never been used in the tank. I have noticed that everything in the tank has been starting to look washed out for some reason. I am not sure if it is because the light is too bright, since it is nearly brand new, or because it is lacking the blue spectrum lighting. Any ideas?

Thanks for your time and considerations.

 

[BL1]

Depending upon what type of anemone you have you probably are a little low for lighting. Anemones require as much if not more light than SPS and LPS. If you want to get into hard corals you're going to need to change your lighting to either T5s or MHs. The reason your corals may be looking washed out are either, they are shocked by the new amount of light in the tank (since the last bulb burned out PC bulb generally need to be changed every 8-10 months) or the fact that you went from a blue/white bulb to an all white bulb could be it. Corals will seem to pop or be more colorful under bluer bulbs.

If you want to keep SPS corals you'll need to upgrade your lighting to something like these:
Current USA Nova Extreme Pro T5 Aquarium Lighting Fixture, 6X39 Watt, 36 inch
Odyssea Metal Halide System

 

[Bifferwine]

You have too little lighting. Look into upgrading to the lights that Brian linked to, if you want to be able to keep corals and the anemone long term. With the lighting you have now, it will be a slow decline for any photosynthetic animals in your tank.

 

[Piratefish]

I have the Tek elite 6x54watt on my 55g tank. It really is bright!