To have proper lighting in the reef tanks is a very important aspect of keeping your fish healthy, besides maintaining the quality of the water and ensuring a correct water movement. The quality of the water is directly linked to corals, which sustain the elements in the aquarium. The movement of the water ensures the nutrients get to the corals and thus they can eat. The lighting is also very important because it gives energy to the coral and they can grow and maintain the little ecosystem you build in your reef tanks.
The corals get the energy from the light through symbiotic algae. But it is not the same for all the corals and you should be cautious about this when you are building reef tanks. There are also corals that get their energy from feeding and all corals that require light to grow have in general different requirements.
Thus providing lighting in the tank depends on the type of coral and the depth of the aquarium. For example the soft corals require a fluorescent light and it is more advisable you use fluorescent tubes, but if you have for example some type of stony corals then you must use metal halide lighting.
To check how strong the light should be you must look at the depth of the reef tanks. If your tank has a high depth then the light should be stronger and get to the corals. The water has the ability to strip out of color very fast and thus removes the color from light.
Another important thing about reef tanks and lighting is the Kelvin scale. If it is high then the water should be blue and that means your corals have enough light, but if the Kelvin scale is very low then the water will get a yellow or red color and that is not good news for your corals.
