cadillac, welcome to TR. Nice looking tank.
I see you live in FL. One issue you will have to consider is heat generation and elimination. The coral selection you mentioned is broad indicating to me that in the future you will, more likely than not, be looking at more light demanding SPS corals. It's senseless to spend $300 or $400 on a light that will raise the temperature of your tank to the point that you need to purchase a $500 chiller. All that does is drive your energy bill through the roof.
Carmie bit the bullet and bought a Solaris LED light fixture from
The Cultured Reef (my on-line biz and sponsor of TR) and I think she is very happy she did that.
Here's the bottom line - You can spend a bit more up front buying a Solaris LED fixture and not raise temps. This avoids the upfront cost of a chiller and the long term expense associated with
MH and chiller operation that goes on forever.
I've been using the Solaris LED system since the first series came out in Sept '06. I unplugged my chiller as a test. I haven't used it since. If you go the
MH route, I have a used 1/4 hp chiller for sale.
By the way, I totally agree that you need to dump the bio balls (regardless of what the
LFS told you) and replace them with
LR. What Carmie said is true.
Dick
