35G Hex Help

[xtremeleeaquatic]

I want to set up a saltwater 35G hex Aquarium. I want to have live rock and a couple of fish. What i was wondering is what should i do for the lighting? How much light will i need for the live rock to do well.......2 watts per gallon? and if so what should i use to acheive this? As far as everything else i think im good. Thanks for the help in advance. :?:

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi xtremeleeaquatic and welcome to Reefs.Org.

Watts-per-gallon is really not a very useful guideline for lighting a tank IMO. If you're just looking to keep fish you really don't need any particular lighting. Whatever you feel is adequate to view your fish under will be fine. The live rock will still provide biological filtration with or without light. The bacteria in and on the live rock does not require light to survive.

Of course, if you have some photosynthetic corals that have hitchhiked in on your live rock, they may perish without adequate light. Also, if you plan on adding photosynthetic corals to your setup in the near future you'll need adequate lighting. How much and what kind of lighting would be best will largely depend on what species of corals, etc. you want to keep and the dimensions of the tank.

HTH