metal halide lighting question?

[scarter]

if you are keeping a mixed reef I would keep 1 400w for every three to three and a half feet. that way you can put your softies off to the side of the halides so they wont cook. I run two 400w on a 6ft tank

 

[dcombs44]

I agree with that, just make sure you place things where they need to be. Plus a mixed reef is a hard thing to master.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

It's the closest form of lighting compared to the sun

except for electric arc welding! I got a nice "sun burn" from that stuff in class haha.

So if a bulb can go up to 3 ft wide...would a single 175w mh be good over a 40 breeder? Its 36 inches long, i think 17 front to back, and i think like 16 high?

 

[gman19]

My very first reef was a 40 breeder. I had very good success using a single 175W pendant over it. The pendant was the "bell" shape type and was about 10" off the water surface.

Mainly LPS back then as SPS were not widely available, but the single pendant did a great job.

 

[J_Geisinger000]

thanks for all the info everyone

my 90 gallon is 24" deep but I do have a short canopy my halide bulbs are only 4"inches of the top of the water
and the top of my tank is open so no light restrictions there

I think im going to stick with the 2 175w halides for now to see how it goes I might drop down to 6500k bulbs though for better growth

I do have 110watts of t-5 actinics in the canopy also the color in the tank will still look ok