250 mh to 400 mh upgrade

[chad508]

i am looking at upgrading my mh's on a 180 gallon aga tank. i currently have 3 250 watt mh's and was looking at putting in 2 400 watt mh's. will i have enough light spread to reach the center of the tank? and is anyone else running this set up? pics would be great

 

[Entropy]

Do you have center braces? I would say you will get pretty good lighting, but there will be less in the middle than you are used to now, even with the brighter bulbs. Of course under the 400w bulbs will be much brighter than before, so it is a trade off. You could always run one of your 250's in the middle though.

 

[edwadd]

I tried 2 400's on a 180 eurobraced tank (no center brace) and I felt I needed another bulb so I went with 3 250's, much better I feel.

 

[mike660r]

I had 3 - 400's on my 180 AGA last year. With the center bulb turned off there was a big shadow down the center. I would have to say with the cost savings of running 3 - 250's that is the way to go.