What if your plans are to start out with a fish-only tank with no intention of keeping reef animals, but later change your mind and decide to advance into the realm of keeping some reef life? The question here is, will a basic pre-manufactured light hood work for this purpose, and if so, which type should you choose?
For those of you contemplating a 55 gallon aquarium as a fish-only tank to begin with, and choosing say a Perfecto style plastic hood, try to select the model that incorporates 2 tubes. Why? Sooner or later, and it happens to most fish-only aquarists, you are going to want to try “just a few” soft corals, or perhaps a piece or two of live rock. The flexibility that the 2 bulb fixture allows is to be able to replace one of those standard lower wattage and "K" (Kelvin) stock tubes with an actinic, or a higher K (Kelvin) NO tube, such as a 10,000K bulb. This will allow you to accommodate some reef life. I go into more detail about specific reef life lighting requirements in later Chapters, but for now keep in mind that only the very hardiest of soft corals, such as the actinodicus (mushroom corals) and sea mats can thrive under the illumination provided by only two of these normal output tubes.
As we progress into the understanding of fluorescent tube wattages, CRI and "K" (Kelvin) in Chapter 2, you will see how by experimenting with the various types of lighting tubes on the market, the hobbyist can discover the myriad of differing effects these lights can achieve. Testing the waters in this manner allows the hobbyist to get their feet wet in the realm of invert and coral keeping.
For a beginning introduction to understanding reef aquaria lighting, let us take a look at the basic types of lighting methods that can be used.
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