is there a such thing as too much light?

[maxdout]

i'm debating on putting on 2*250w MH on my 35 gal. its 18" only... i'm mounting the lights approx 6inch above the tank. would this be too much light? i'm planning on running the lihgts for 6 hrs total. 1 of them 2 hours ahead of the other for a total of 8 hours. any info would be gr8 thanks

 

[Elite]

how long is your tank Max?? 2 bulbs seem a bit much for a 35G tank but then I'm using a 400W bulb on a 20"H tank ..

 

[loup]

that's a lot of light for 35g. I'm only running 2 250 on a 225g mounted 8 inches off the water. Consider 1 250 or even 400 w/ t5 or vho supplement, save $$$ on electricity and use it for more pretty stick.

 

[maxdout]

i've been going back and forth with xia about the lighting needs. he suggested i go with 1 250 10k with some actinic t5 to suppliment. im thinking that is the way to go now. thanks for your inputs.

 

[Wee-Reef Master]

WAY TOO MUCH LIGHT in my opinion. I think that you would quickly encounter a margin of diminishing returns. The watts (and dollars to run those watts) would be far more than you would get out of that tank, not to mention the tangential issues asssociated with such a set up such as heat and evaporation. Just one 250 is more than enough. I know of some with just one 175 and it's more than adequate. Good luck!

 

[Justin74]

Havent heard of what exactly your keeping to demand that much light?

I personally have 20k 175w over my 30g and was keeping softies and lps. But after about 4-5 months the standalone light is just not enough(when bulb degradation begins), even for ricordea! I just got finished supplementing it with 1 T5 blu+ w/ Tek reflector, and wow. Just what the doctor ordered
I'll eventually be using a 14k probably instead of a 20k as IMO is just not enough as a standalone for a 30. Hindsight being 20/20 if I attempted a stand alone again over this tank using a 20k it would be at least a 250w if you wanted to have a mixed sps/lps.Or, a supplemented 175w and with a known good PAR bulb at that. Hope that helps

-Justin

 

[maxdout]

the tank im working on is most likely going to be mixed softies/lps with sps dominate... i've got a couple of things going already in my old tank and i've got a 150mh on that with 2 36w pc and they are doing great. since i'm upgrading but only up by 10 or so gallons, i wanted to make sure i don't over do it and kill what i have now. hopefully.

 

[Justin74]

Personally, as Im sure youve guessed by now I'd go with T5 over the PC. Biased opinions aside, you can even use the same ballast that the PC is using if you went the DIY rout, and would be sufficient for (2)24 watters w/ individual reflectors it will actually compete with MH intensity. Visually last night looking at what I hooked up, (1) 24w w/ TEK is equally as bright as my 175 MH on a mag ballast and PFO reflector Sounds like you have a lot of options, those 2 bulbs alone could compensate the difference of the 10g and extra inch or two your gaining. Tell us what you end up with, even better yet, show us!

-Justin