custom lighting

[freespool]

I am building a hood for a new tank and want to build in the lighting.
I plan to have day lighting and moon lighting, I will NOT have any live plants. Cichlid tank with lots of rocks the tank is 48" wide and 30" tall. I want to make sure the light will penetrate the 30" water depth. Can I use standard fluorescent (1 or 2) or do I have to use VHO bulbs. Also saw a thread on LED would that work with the 30" depth? Also with the moon light should I use LED or cold cathode with the depth? cost is a factor as I have a lot I will be doing with this tank.
thanks for reading all my questions and for your input.

[freespool]

I found the moon light I like. It is the R2 Signature Series Moonlight strips in 48 inches and want to hook it up to the R2 Solutions Moonlight Controller. It says you can set it to run a program to simulate true moon rise and sets. anyone have experience with this set, and do they make a similar one for daylight? Thanks. I will be taking pics to show progress as I plane to make a show tank out of this.

[Mzungu]

I want to make sure the light will penetrate the 30" water depth. Can I use standard fluorescent (1 or 2) or do I have to use VHO bulbs. Also saw a thread on LED would that work with the 30" depth?

Standard fluorescents will penetrate the 30", definitely.

Also, we were at Houston Aquarium Warehouse this weekend and asked that exact same question about the LEDs and whether they would reach the bottom of a 30" tank. So the ever-helpful owner, Dustin, opened up the box to a Marineland LED fixture and turned it on over a tank that was at least 30" deep. It reached the bottom!

I'm not sure what wattage the LEDs are in the Marineland fixtures, but my advice would be to get LEDs that are of that wattage or higher, since I'm not sure if any of the lower-watt LEDs would reach far enough.

Edit: Okay, just checked, and the Marineland fixtures use 1W LEDs.

[freespool]

I am really likeing the idea of LED, but an having a hard time finding a controlable daytime LED. I would like to have the light slowly brighten and dim on timers just like real sun and moon phases. It was easy to find the moon one, may just find a way to put the moon programer on a daytime light and change timing.