HOW LONG SHOULD MY LIGHT BE ON FOR IN A SALT WATER TANK? I DO NOT HAVE THAT MANY FISH YET JUST STARTER FISH IN A 75 GALLON TANK WITH ABOUT 37 POUNDS OF ROCK.

What kind of lighting are you using. I have MH's on both of my tanks with actinics. I run my actinics 10 hrs per day and my MH's 8 hrs per day. Are you planning to have corals later? The fish don't really care what kind or how long the lighting is on. However, you do want the system to get used to the photoperiod.

I AM ALL NEW AT THIS WHOLE FISH TANK THING. I WOULD LIKE CORAL BUT LIKE I SAID I REALLY DO NOT NO WHAT I AM DOING HERE. I HAVE ONE LIGHT WITH TWO BULBS IN IT BUT THIS SOUNDS LIKE THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT/NEED FROM THE ANSWERS I AM GETTING FROM PEOPLE.
SHOULD I HAVE A DIFFERENT COLOR LIGHT FOR DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE DAY??
I CHECK MY LEVELS IF NOT EVERYDAY BUT EVERY TWO DAYS AND THEY ARE WHAT THEY SHOULD BE EACH TIME UNLESS THE NITRATE IS UP TO THE NUMBER 20 BUT THEN IT WILL GO DOWN TO ZERO.

How many watt's do you have on your lighting. You could always go with non-photosynthetic corals. The lighting systems aren't cheap. They'll usually run $600-$1000 and the MH bulbs are $50-100 each, which need to be changed every 9 months. However, it takes the hobby to a whole new level.

It's weird that your water is reading 20ppm nitrates and dropping to zero. You may want to buy a new test kit. The only way to drop nitrates is water changes and having macro algae that will consume them. Try starting out with some zoanthids. They are very hardy and not too expensive, unless you get to the rare ones. A toadstool or leather is also a good hardy starter coral.