lighting on a cube tank help or opinions

[saltyreefguy]

hello, i am currently deciding on which wattage mh to put on my tank, the tank itself is 36x36x24, and i am going to have dominate sps, montis,chalices, so i really wanted to go with 2 400's or is 2 250's enough since its only 24 inch width top to bottom, i was just thinking will the 2 250w's have enough light spread for the whole tank, any suggestions or opnions would be very apprecited. thanks.

 

[PaintGuru]

I'd do 2-250's. I would think 2-400's would really cause you some temp problems.

 

[OranguTang]

With the right reflector a single 400 would do.

 

[funman1]

I'd personally have (2) 250's to spread the light, so there's no "Hot Spots"

 

[MrRyanT]

If I'm reading that right, and your tank is actually 36 x 36, then I don't think you're going to get enough coverage with just 2 lights. I think you will need at least 3 lights, and 4 would definitely be better. I do think 250's would be plenty of light in a 24" depth tank though.

 

[saltyreefguy]

you guys are right about the 250w for a 24 depth tank no doubt that bulb is enough for light/water penetration.., but like mryant mentioned, 36x36 is not a smalll area where one 400w will be sufficient(or will it?), i was thinking of putting 2 400w with lumenarc minis, and then get a light meter and test it to see if enough lumens are getting most places, cause i know there will be some corals that don't need constant high light down at the bottom to mid areas..
ps. does anyone have a similiar size dimention tank, and what kind of light setup do you have?

 

[elmexotics]

i have the same tank and I use 2-250 with 4 t-5's for supliment.

 

[elmexotics]

 

[kgross]

I would think that a single 400 with a good reflector would be fine. If you centered it on the tank, you would have a low light area, at each end near the top, but I doubt if you would have rock/corals at the very outside edges of the top of the tank, and once you go down into the tank a foot or so the light would spread out to cover most of the 3x3 area without any problems.

Kim