but lack most of the light spectrum that is required for coral growth. A tank lit in this manner would quickly kill off most of the corals and invertebrates that are popular in the marine aquarium (Larson). What the hobbyist needs for his or her aquarium is specialized lighting. Lights that provide the correct spectrum and most closely resemble direct sunlight are best for most aquarium inhabitants. How large the tank is and what inhabitants are residing in the tank will determine how much lighting is required. The ideal setup would provide an equal amount of light, and a spectrum of light that resembles direct sunlight (Gamble). Since this would be extremely expensive and difficult to achieve, an easier way to determine the amount of light needed is to have four to eight watts of light for every gallon of water in the tank (Larson). For example, a 75 gallon aquarium should have from 300 to 750 watts of light. There are four main lighting options that will fill these needs. All of the options include some form of florescent lamps, and can be mixed to provide optimum lighting conditions to any aquarium. The first option is to stick with the lighting that comes with a newly purchased aquarium. These lights, referred to as Normal Output (NO) bulbs, are very low power, only providing 15 to 20 watts of light per bulb. These bulbs are also the cheapest option of providing light to the aquarium (Reefkeeper’s FAQ). Because of the low output of these bulbs, they are a poor option for lighting a marine aquarium. The next option for the hobbyist is High Output (HO) lights. This type of lighting is identical to NO lights except they provide a higher output of light, normally 50 to 75 watts per lamp (Reefkeeper’s FAQ). However, because these lamps still provide a low output of light they are best suited as supplemental lighting to the aquarium. The most common lighting for a marine aquarium is Very High...
