need advise new tank

[CORALFISHG]

a few months ago i bought a 400gal tank for dirt cheap.. im getting ready to start picking up all the equipment for it but i have a problem that i need to address before i buy my lights... the tank is 84"L x 24w x 48h.. which means i whould need to go with 400w halides as of now.. now here is the problem.. the tank has a 3.5" overflow hole at the very top of the tank.. the previous owner caped off the actual overflow hole and was using this one to go down into his sump (don't ask me, i don't understand why) he had the actual tank set up so that the front viewing panel was actually visable outside his house (front yard)..

so what whould you guys do about this.. should i cut the tank down to right below the overflow hole.. and loose about 6" of tank height.. or just cap the hole off and go back to using the traditional overflow.. I want to build this into the wall and all the locations that i want to put it will not work becuse of the overflow location..

and my last question is what is the maximum height that you whould put 250w halides on.. if i cut the tank down do you think that i could go with the 250's.. and wheather i go with the 400's or the 250's how many do you think that i should go with, 3 or 4...


thanks for any help.. i appreciate it greatly..

here are some pictures of the tank.. sorry the tank is so dirty, im working on our show car in the garage that the tank is in..(picture of the car included)

jason

 

[Steven M]

You could build an overflow box around the 3.5" hole and have two overflows. For a tank that tall I would go with 4 400w, I have a 72" long with 2 250w and a lot of shadows.

 

[mflamb]

I don't think 400w lights will work with 48" depth.

 

[CORALFISHG]

mflamb what are the dimensions of your 390 that your putting 250w over.. im figuring that it's 24-30"H.. what do you think that i need to put over it, 1000w?

 

[uztaryn]

I would say at least 400w... maybe 1000w halides. 250w is NOT enough light to get to the bottom. If you dont mind dark spots at the bottom then knock yourself out.

I just put my 500g together and have A LOT of money in it. I can tell you that you don't want to get done and find out you skimped on something as important as lighting.

MINIMUM 400w recommend 1000w halides for 48" tall.

As for cutting it... if it is acrylic, DON'T heck, even if it is glass I wouldn't cut it. Acrylic can be patched and you can fill in the hole on the side and just create a regular overflow.

 

[mflamb]

My tank is 31 inch deep, minus 5 inch sandbed minus 1 inch top with no water...25 inches of water. A 48 inch tank will have about 43 inches of water with a sandbed. I would use 1000w MH.
Put a bulkhead in the hole and plug it on the outside.

 

[CORALFISHG]

that's what i was thinking of doing (pluging a bulkhead).. i just was hoping that maybe i could cut it down below that hole, becuse i was really wanting to have it visable on three sides.. basically i was wanting to create a wall with it, and have all the pluming go into my garage..

going with 1000w halides is not a issue.. the problem with that is there is not many people that actually sell 1000w setups.. do you no anywhere that has a good deal on them...

thanks again for all the help...

jason