How much is too much?????

[glaspie69]

As many of you already know I'm planning to set up a 40 gal breeder in the up comming months. My next delema is lighting, My original thought was to put a 400 watt SE 15K XM with supplimental actinics (VHO). Currently I'm considering putting 2-250watt MH SE 15K XM's with no supplimental actinics. The tank is going to be mainly SPS with a few choice LPS (hammer, frogspawn, acans, chalice). My goal is to get better coloration and growth from my SPS. Any suggestions on this would be great......thanks Jason

 

[mwood]

On a 40 gal breeder, I would consider a single 250w with actinics. Either a 250w DE Pheonix or a radium on an hqi. The ushio 14k looks interesting to. Too much watts and you may have heat issues.

PS, the SPS 10k and the reeflux both speck out nice on color and par. Get a good bulb and you shouldn't need a 400w.

 

[got2lb]

What kind of ballast are you going to run everything on? The XM 15ks have good color but they have terrible par so you probably won't get very good growth out of them.