150w or 250w for 24"

[busterb]

I'm putting together a 80g tank. It's going to be 24" tallx48". I'm looking at running 2x150w mh with 2x96w pc's . Now with 2x250 w and 4 54wt5. THe first will be cheaper because I already have the pc's.
I'm Looking at keeping a mixed tank with softies, some sps and a clam or so at the bottom. Sand bed to be about 2-4inches.

 

[northbay-reefer]

250 is the way to go, the 150+ 2 pcs isn't enough light unless you are willing to add a bunch of t5 to it latter

 

[crispyreef]

I agree. Go with the 250's.

 

[busterb]

Dam.. This is going to cost a little more then I want. Ahh.. the life of a reefer. Broke, living in a box but a really cool tank though.

 

[aclos3]

Why not keep the PC's and use 2x250 watt halides? Why replace the the PC's just because you are going with 250w halides?

 

[salmon alley]

busterb-

Here's what I'm thinking about doing on my 48" L x 20-24" tall FWIW:

4 x 54w T5
1 x 250W MH on a light mover so that it traverses back and forth across the tank.

Less wattage, fewer bulb changes, less heat, and the corals get varying angles of light (more natural like)

course you do have the added cost of the light mover...

that's my plan...at least for the moment

 

[busterb]

running the 2 x 96w with the 2x250 will come to 692watts for a total of 8.65 watts/gal on a true 80Gal. From what I under stand the pc's run alot hotter then the t5's so that was why I was looking into the 150w's

I guess I can run the pc's and just add the 250w's

Salmon- That would be a pretty cool setup. A little complicated. Now what if you had the 2 250w's on separate timers and just ran one for the first half and switch to the other for the second half. Kinda same affect.