400 watt or 250 watt over 120 sps tank

[pondwater]

Debating on either dual 400 watt or 250 watt se over a 120 sps tank. Canopy designed to have bulbs 10 inches off water surface. Going to use Lumenarc mini reflectors. Wanting to have sps only with sps toward the bottom of the tank. Your opinions appreciated

 

[autogirl]

i have a 120 sps tank and use 2 400 watt lights growth and colors are amazing i know you can run 250s and be fine but i like the 400

 

[saltn07]

I would do 400 also SPS love the light, I have 3 400 with lumabright reflectors and have great growth all the way down

 

[JMalone81]

How deep is the tank? Not all sps love high light.

 

[Gondore]

I think it really depends on what type of reflectors you plan to use. Good reflectors with 250 watts MHs will put out the same PAR as bad reflectors with 400 watt MHs.

 

[prodman]

I think 400s are overkill. I have always used 250s with great results. I am going to do 2 150s on my current 4ft tank as its is only 19" tall it will also allow me to run a longer photo period.

 

[nickxx4360]

your gonna have more issues(heat, electric bill,etc..) with the 400Watts for a tank with a canopy.
I suggest getting 250WATT with excellent DE reflector and ballast with higher end bulbs. SPS will be very happy.

I have seen plp with amazing growth + color with VHO/T5 lighting running and 150 and larger tanks.

Can I ask why only SE bulbs?

 

[t4zalews]

I'm currently downgrading my 400w to 2x250w. Growth is great with 400w, but I feel like I'm losing a little color from too much light.

 

[Fig]

Get the new Lumatek or Galaxy selectable ballasts and you can try both the 250's or 400's with just bulb changes.

 

[aiko670]

I run three 400watt bulbs in Lumenarc mini's over my AGA 120. I used to run 250's and they were okay but I get a lot more growth with the 400's.

 

[Muddy35]

I have a single 400 SE 10K over a 34 red sea tank- NO HOOD. and growth is exceptional. Agreed the colors will show better under the 250 as I tend to get browner corals higher in the tank. Switching over to LEDS!

 

[syedjilani]

Corals get brown, means not sufficient light. They need more light to keep their color at that level where it should be.
i am using 400W. you can compare the growth from November 2009 to January 2010. See my albums. link below.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?u=159195

 

[Reef Bass]

I use 2 400w MHs over my 24" deep 100g. I have some of the best color and growth in my club. Yes, I could keep coral alive with 250s, but I think 400s produce better results.

 

[toothman]

I think you need to look at Sanjay's Reef, light selection guide. You can get some 250's to put out about as many lumens as a 400 watt with different ballasts. As said above reflectors do matter. I have 20k 400 watt on durable m59 ballasts, a good combo. When I was running evc 10k the highest par on the chart, my corals looked unhealthy.

 

[swiftwing7]

It really depends on what color you want. If you want blue you should probably go 400 route. But if you don't mind white or whiteish blue then 250 would work. I use 2 250 HQI with megachrome coral (13K) and get excellent growth and color. 4 T5 supplements also. In general the problem is the 250's at 20k don't give that great of par , while running 13K really more of a 10K I get higher par than a lot of 400 watt setups.
So in summary
high par blue -400
High par white -250

 

[Muddy35]

Corals can brown out for a large number of reasons. In my case ~ It is not a lack of sufficent light. A 2 month old ushio 400w 10K bulb is hardly insufficent at 8" over a tank.
In my case nutrients are a cause of browning due to a number of reasons- one of which YES is the light. Do I have good growth? Yes I have excellent growth on most of the faster growing corals and decent growth on the slower growing varieties. I'm thinking you have more reading to do on why corals brown out.

Corals get brown, means not sufficient light. They need more light to keep their color at that level where it should be.
i am using 400W. you can compare the growth from November 2009 to January 2010. See my albums. link below.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?u=159195