Is this too much?

[dcombs44]

I'm considering either dual 250s, dual 175s, or a single 400 w mh for my 55 gallon....



Suggestions please.

 

[Tiger3147]

hmm i would go for the 175's the 250's may be a bit too much but everyone has their opinion i suppose.

 

[Blown 346]

Figure this, 150 wat halides are good for tanks up to 20 inches deep, 250's are good with penetration and intensity up to 30 inches deep.
I would do 250 watters, depending on what you want to keep. If ou dont want to be limited the 250's would be a good option.

 

[joedirt54]

if your happy with the light on your 29gal go with dual 150w hqi's...if you think you might want more sps or clams go with 250w hqi's 14k phoenix for either.

 

[dcombs44]

see that's the thing....my light is a bit iffy on my 29..it would make more since for me to buy another 175 and retrofit them in a new hood, but i don't want to be limited, but i don't want to have too much either

 

[Steven Pro]

What do you want to keep? That is the first thing to decide upon. Then you can get lighting that best meets their needs.

 

[dcombs44]

See i currently have no sps....i have a brain and a hammer....Things are up and down in my tank, but i think that has a lot to do with the size of the tank...the hammer has a few dead spots but i've gotten most of my water issues fixed and what's left does pretty well..I have a hamilton 14k 175 mh above it now, but i bought a clam that didn't survive...again probably fluctuations in the water, but i would like to get into sps but i fear that me not being at home all the time could lead to more problems with them than the lps...I'm still relatively new with coral....so.....

 

[Blown 346]

The 175 watt halide should be enought for you to keep alot of differnt species of coral. How have you been acclimating the corals?

 

[VSpeck]

i have dual 250's over my 75(same height) and i keep clams sps lps and softies also and they do awesome

 

[phishlet]

I run dual 250 watt SE lamps on my 46 bowfront. I keep the lights about 16 inches off the water surface. It's great. I wouldn't want anyything else.

 

[dcombs44]

first of all, all of my coral comes from my lfs. i know the owners personally. we run the same systems with the same supplements and all of his corals are kept under a 400 w mh in a display tank thats less than 10" deep. I acclimate for about 2 hours with a cup of tank water to the bag water every 20 minutes or so..The 175 that i have above my 29 is about 12" off the water...

i have dual 250's over my 75(same height) and i keep clams sps lps and softies also and they do awesome

That's a lot more surface area though. you would round out to about 7 watts per gal. that would leave me at almost 10....is that too much?

I don't want to bleach anything or burn anything.

 

[VSpeck]

to me the wats per gallon doesnt mean much. its about the lights and depth. if the 250 w light was over your 55 the corals on the bottom would still be 20" below the light give or take a few inches in either tank so its recieving the same amount of light. someone tell me if im wrong. also they are reef optix 3 pendants 6" off the water if that is important