Help with lighting!

[kwirky]

what are you planning on puting in for livestock?

I'd go with HO driven T5's. You could put four 39W bulbs over it with clip on reflectors. You'd be happy you did. I love my T5's. I've got 8 over my 120 gallon 4'x2'x2' tank and it's BRIGHT. I have to be careful I don't bleach corals. PC lights are so inneficient. Cramming those big tubes so close together makes for ZERO reflection.

My personal opinion is coralife lights aren't that great, too. If you REALLY want to go PC, get hamilton technology lights or a PFO retro kit.

As for heat, either way you go, I'd just run a fan blowing air across the surface of the water. Put it on a timer with multiple on-off points and you can run it 15min on, 15min off, 15min on, 15min off, while the lights are on. Saves on evaporation. Just figure out the right timing scheme for your own needs.

Or you could look into 70W MH lighting. the bulbs clip right into halogen worklights (only cost $12 each, those fixtures), so all you need is the bulbs and the ballasts. And Iwasaki makes a 14000k 70W DE bulb now that actually has a proper PAR rating for it's wattage. People on nano-reef.com run 70W MH lighting with just fans for cooling.