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Top Metal Halide Fixtures
Metal Halide lights have rapidly become the fixture of choice for many SW reefers. Their relatively small size for the amount of light provided has made these fixtures very popular. Many of these new fixtures are well designed, add a stylish look to any aquarium and even include Lunar Lights.

FAQs From Your Guides
Here is a collection of frequently asked questions received by site visitors that your About Guides to Saltwater Aquariums Debbie and Stan Hauter give their answers to.

Fish-Only Tank Lighting
Don Carner discusses Fish-Only Tank Lighting Requirements - Using Pre-Manufactured Light Hoods - A Basic Outline of Various Methods Used for Reef Aquaria Lighting.

Lighting Fundamentals
Don Carner discusses The Fundamentals of Fluorescent Tubes - Understanding Tube Wattages, CRI and Kelvin Ratings. If you are going to spend your hard earned money on tank lighting, you might as well know what you are getting.

Reef System Lighting - What To Buy and Why
Don Carner discusses about Reef System Lighting: What to Buy & Why - Using Pre-Manufactured Hoods on Reefs, the pros and cons of using Metal Halides and Power Compacts.

Coral Lighting
Don Carner discusses about Coral Lighting: How Changes in Lighting Effects Corals - Avoiding Sudden Changes in Lighting - About SPS Corals.

Lighting Poll
Participate in this quick poll created by your About Guides to tell them and other aquarists what type of lighting you use, or just view the polling results to get a concensus of which types are most popular.

Tank Lighting - VHO Fluorescents
A discussion about VHO (very high output) fluoresecent lights and if they may be right for your aquarium system or not.

Tank Lighting - Reef Systems
Tips and information about choosing lights for a reef tank system.

Tank Lighting - Fish-Only Tanks
Tips and information about choosing lights for a FO tank set up.

FAQs & How To's
Are you looking for some basic answers to questions you may have about getting started, setting up, maintaining, or other things you want to know about keeping a saltwater fish aquarium or reef tank system? Browse these FAQ and How To resources.

DIY Hood & Lighting Projects
Link resources to do-it-yourself projects for all types of aquarium lighting set ups from fish-only to reefs tanks.

Top Metal Halide & PC Retrofit Kits
In the constant quest for more wattage in the same space, many saltwater aquarists choose to upgrade their existing fluorescent lighting to either Power Compacts or Metal Halides, rather than buying a complete new hood or canopy. There are even retrofit kits made to upgrade Eclipse tanks.

Top Fluorescent, VHO, PC and Metal Halide Ballasts
Top Fluorescent, VHO, Power Compact and Metal Halide ballast Picks for when you are ready to either upgrade or create your aquarium lighting system. Price comparisons for Coralife, Electro-Lite, Perfecto, IceCap, and Visi-Lux replacement ballasts and complete ballast kits.

Replacement & Complete Ballast Kits
Upgrade/replace your old ballast or create a whole new lighting system for your tank with these ballast kits. The energy efficient electronic ballasts provide more lighting power and a lower light bill.

Artificial Lighting
From Patrick Timlin's Freshwater Aquaria site, while mostly aimed at aquarists, this article by Richard Sexton is also applicable to other people interested in growing things under artificial light.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps
From Don Klipstein's Lighting Info page, not aquarium related, but has some good basic information about Compact Fluorecents in general compiled Don Klipstien and Samuel M. Goldwasser.

Lighting and the Aquarium
From AquaLink, some basic tips from Sam McDonald in reference to freshwater tanks, but the information can be applied to saltwater fish-only tanks as well.

Lighting FAQ's
From the FINS Reefkeeper FAQ's section, General, Detailed and Data Discussions about reef aquarium lighting.

New Lighting Advances
From The Cyber Reef Guru site by Thomas Sasala, input and insight from Tom discussing the advancements being made in the arena of Fluorescent and HID aquarium lighting.

Reef Aquarium Coral Propagation Lab Lighting Report
GARF has been conducting tests of many reef aquarium products for years. They claim their success in coral propagation is greatly contributed to by using Triton and Blue Moon tubes, and give their reports on these lights.

Sam's Fluorescent Lamps FAQ's
From Don Klipstein's Lighting Info page, not aquarium related, but you can find answers to commonly asked questions about Fluorescent Lamps, Ballasts, and Fixtures from Samuel M. Goldwasser.  Content includes great detail about their principles of operation, circuity, troubleshooting, and repair.

Summary of Ligthing Costs
From The Cyber Reef Guru site by Thomas Sasala, a chart listing various types of lighting systems reflecting the cost analysis on each one.  To access this info, click on the Reef Lighting link on Thomas' Home Page, then go to "The Summary of Comparison" link.