400 Watt Advantages

[Mercer]

I'll keep it short. I'm looking at a tank that's 24" deep, and thinking to myself... "I wonder if 400w would fair better than 250w". Are there any fussy corals that will only respond well to really, really bright light? will the others freak out due to too much light(zoos, shrooms)? I'll leave it at that

What do you think?

 

[Mercer]

^

 

[Rule69]

Tagging along cause I would like to know to.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[Mercer]

I would like to know also

I know there is some high light corals... but running 400Ws I'll need dedicated circuits, and new hardware. Trying to weigh out my options

Something is screaming "Clam only"...

 

[tekknoschtev]

Keep in mind that I currently have 400W halides over my 150gall mixed softie and LPS reef. No intentions of having SPS, HOWEVER, the ability is there. The tank is 26" high and the lights are 10-12" off the water. I think its WAY overkill.

There is a guy setting up a 270gal tank locally, he's been kind of tight lipped on his lighting scheme but he's only going to have two 250W halides in the luminarc reflectors. Along with VHOs and T5s and "something else" but as for halides thats it, and I can pretty much believe hes going all or at least mostly SPS.

I believe 400W halides are overkill, unless you have a huge surface area to light (3'x3' square - 4'x4' maybe) because they are so intense that they can be raised off the water quite a bit before you cant keep the high light demanding corals/clams. If I had a chance to do it again, I'd go for 250W halides.

 

[Johnsteph10]

I'm going with 3x400 over my 6x4 foot tank. With the LA3 reflector you can get great spread and the 400w light provides good overall intensity.

 

[WorldNation]

yeh, i would say there are corals that will do much much better (long term) under 400w MH's than under 250's on a 24" high tank.

 

[mike660r]

I'm switching to 250w 10K's here in the next two weeks. I am currently using PFO standard MH ballasts with Sunburst 12k's. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Mercer]

From 400w?

 

[tekknoschtev]

I forgot to mention we mainly have zoas, and some mushrooms, and they deal with the light. Some LOVE the light, some shy away and need special placement to deal with the MH (either for color, or for overall health) but overall it can be done.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well, 400s arent too much depending on how you use them... You could use 14,000 or 20,000K bulbs which have lower output, and then not need actinics because you already have enough blue.

 

[sscherin]

Thats how I'm planning my 150..

Its 48lx24dx31h..

I'll have 2 400w halides with M59 ballasts and LAIII reflectors...
For bulbs I'll have 15k XM's or EVC 14k.
I know the par is low but should be ok at 400w

I may add some NO T12's for morning/evening lighting and shorten the MH lighting period..

 

[New2This]

Im running 400w 14k hamilton over my 55g prop tank, but its just been setup so I have no info

 

[Pyrrhus]

I loved my 400w Hamilton 20k's over my 90g 25" tall.

 

[chtan]

One of my tank is 2 ft 3 inches in ht and 6 ft long .... I use 2 x 400 w Aqualine 13000 SE bulbs ... it really depends on how you intend to place your corals .... for example, I have the sps that are supposedly exposed to extremely strong light right in the centre of the light .... there is a period of 'burning' even for these .... however, they return to vivid colors after 3 mths or so (this I observed from some of the acros I have) ...

For my faviites, blastos, mushrooms ... I place them semi-shaded ... and that creates some interesting possibilities ...

For example, my cynarina that is only about 3 inches diameter extends to some 7 inches under the partial shade ....

With my 150w and even my 250w MH tanks, when I attempt to execute such a scaping, the results are never as good as under 400w MH .....

Even softies like colt corals and gorgonians that generally look brown are lighter in shade and have better polyp extension directly under 400w .....


In sum, I feel that a 400w provides a wider range of aqua-scaping possibilities vis a vis 250w.

 

[GoldWing]

I just installed 3 400w 20k on my 300. The pictures in my gallery are 175w 10 & 20 k in the middle only on my 300 gal. my 180 has 3 250 20k. Will post pictures tomorrow with the 3 400w 20k. on the 300gal.
Ron

 

[spazz]

i had 250watter's over my tank and then swiched to 400w pfo ballasts with luminarc III reflectors with xm 20k bulbs. i would never go back to anything else. i love the colors im getting out of my corals! the bulbs dont burn very blue when there run on pfo ballasts vs electronic ballasts. it a medimum blue like you would get from 15k bulbs. and the growth i get out of my corals is crazy. i have had better growth in the last 2 months than i did in a year with the 250's. yes there are corals that have to be lower down in the tank. but thats the beauty of it. you can have acros all over the rocks instead of just on the tops of the rocks. i have acros almost all the way down to the sand. and they look great. by the way your clams will love you for ti too. they might even jump out of the tank and kiss you for it.:lol: