Beginner Corals For Low Light?

[Adrinal]

So i looked online, and saw there were Mh as well as HPS/HID light fixtures...what were the differences, or can the fixtures be used interchangeable with the Mh aquarium lights.

MH, HPS, and HID fixtures can all be used with aquarium bulbs. The only things to avoid are the words "Mercury Vapor" and "Halogen", those are not suitable. Just remember, you have to match the wattage of the fixture to the wattage of the bulb... Typically the cheaper bulbs are 150 or 175watt. So do not, for-instance try and run a 150watt aquarium bulb on a 100watt HID fixture

From the first post it didn't seem like you wanted to go with MH. You don't really need to. T-5s are the best bang for buck SW aquarium lighting. On a 55 4 bulbs will do ya. look at the stuff they have at reefgeek.com as a reference point. ATI have my favorite bulbs. The white is white and the blue is blue. But any of the brands will pump out enough PAR to grow whatever you want for the first 16" of depth.

I run 12" and 8" deep frag tanks. 2'x4' WxL and 2 bulbs is plenty. On the chalace tanks I had to remove the reflectors... Careful the blue bulbs look dimmer to our eyes than the 11k bulbs but they have nearly the same PAR... so don't cook your critters