lighting a 250g tank

[eaglesrx]

I figured everyone in this forum probably has the most experience with lighting larger tanks, so here's my question:

On marineland's 250g, 60"x36"x27" tank, would I be able to get away with just two 400W MH bulbs in lumenarc III reflectors? Does anyone have any pics of this type of setup or even something similar (one 400W lumenarc over a 36"x30" or 36"x36" area)?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[z34fiend]

I have 3 250 mh on my 220 and it works pretty good. Ithink your lighting should be allright on a 60 inch tank

 

[eaglesrx]

hey thanks for the info!

one more thing, I don't want to run any actinics at the same time as the MH to cut heating and electricity costs down. Still work in terms of coverage for a 36" deep tank?

Thanks!

 

[tom obrecht]

I had this exact size tank and had 2-400watt 10K Ushios plus 4 vho actinics. Was by far the best lighting combo I have ever used. The halides were in spiderlight reflectors and everything grew and looked great in the tank. Two 400 watters in Luminarcs IMO should easily do the trick. I persoanlly like the vho combo better than any straight halide I have used but I undertand your viewpoint. Here's a pic of what I used.

 

[eaglesrx]

I had this exact size tank and had 2-400watt 10K Ushios plus 4 vho actinics. Was by far the best lighting combo I have ever used. The halides were in spiderlight reflectors and everything grew and looked great in the tank. Two 400 watters in Luminarcs IMO should easily do the trick. I persoanlly like the vho combo better than any straight halide I have used but I undertand your viewpoint. Here's a pic of what I used.

Thanks for the info. Tom! I remember your old TOTM. It was definitely something that I admired!

 

[tom obrecht]

Thanks for the info. Tom! I remember your old TOTM. It was definitely something that I admired!

Thanks! Truly my favorite of all the tanks I set up over the years. I was thinking (depending on what you plan to keep) you might even get by with 250's instead of 400's if you use something like the Luminarcs. Think if I did it over again I would probably go that route. At the time however the Spiderlight reflectors were "cutting edge". Hows that for dating myself!:lolspin: