New to saltwater tanks and Reefs

[rbiddle]

Hey started getting into this hobby, i have been cycling my tank with rock for about 4 weeks now and have a few questions.

My levels are
ph 8.2
and have no ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite
salinity is able to be kept within accepted limits on hydrometer

i have been running my heater and my skimmer throughout the cycle as well as my movement and circ pump.

I have a 20g tank and am still looking for a lighting system, looked at metal halides but am still a bit confused. Whats the best bang for my buck? i saw the fishneedit one but i dont like the fact that it hangs from the roof. any suggestions? looking to stay around $300 and am planing to get soft corals and an ananome.

any help is appreciated

[intarsiabox]

Welcome to Canreef! If you only plan on keeping soft corals and an anenome I would get a T5HO light fixture. You can get 4 bulb 24" fixtures for well under $200. If you want a MH get it, but they can can heat up a 20g tank real fast on hot days. I would also recommend waiting a least 6 months before adding an anenome or it will perish. Most people claim they only want soft corals but that usually lasts about a month before wanting to get into LPS and SPS. A 4 bulb T5HO fixture will let you keep most corals as would a MH. You can sometimes pick up used Sunpod MH fixtures for cheap on this site as well as others.

[noirsphynx]

The fishneedit light comes with legs, I have the MH & T5 and have legs for both.

[Myka]

I would also recommend a 24w T5HO fixture for your tank. Look for a fixture that had individual reflectors. A Tek would be a good starting point. You will need a 4 bulb T5 fixture to keep the anemone, but some of the soft corals may not be so keen on the light being that bright.

I would recommend against using halide on your tank, as pointed out it will easily overheat your tank, but it will also be too intense for the corals you want to keep. Most of my LPS corals won't even stand for my 250w DE halides. They do much better placed quite far from the light on the sand or at the ends of the tank where there is less light.

When you say your salinity is "able to be kept within accepted limits on hydrometer", what is labeled on there anyway? Many hydrometers claim salinity levels that are rather low to be kept. For a reef tank, a specific gravity of 1.026 is close to NSW (natural seawater), or 35 ppt salinity. Be sure to take your hydrometer to your LFS or another reefing keeping buddy to get it calibrated to a refractometer. I have 3 hydrometers - one is right on, one is out by about 0.003, and one is out by 0.007.

What brand test kits are you using? It is curious that you don't have any nitrate. did you buy cured rock or uncured?

[rbiddle]

i have the api test kit, my nitrates spike up a bit last week but have gone back to zero as of weds. I bought cured live rock.