Lighting on an 8' x 24" reef

[reeftank21]

Does anyone have any experience with using a fixture or combinations of fixtures to light an 8' tank. I've thought of two 4' fixtures 250MH but I'm concerned about the dead spot in the middle. I want to have an open top and prefer to not have a canopy.

 

[steve the plumb]

I am getting 8 ftx30x24 reef tank.I am going with 2x 48 ATI powermodules with 8 bulbs per fixture

 

[Nick A]

There wouldn't be any dead spots with 2 48" fixtures that have 2 lights each. You could even go with 3 pendants and have good coverage. I only have 2 400's on PFO pendants and they light 2/3 of the tank with some light covering the empty spots, but not enough to support SPS in those spots. Thats why I'm getting a 3rd pendant which will either be a PFO DE pendant or Lumenmax III @ 250watts.

 

[reeftank21]

There would be a dead spot possibly in the middle. Each 48" fixture has lights about 9" on end before the MH. There would be a distance of about 29" between middle lights as opposed to 19" with the other lights.