New Tank lighting 250 or 400

[Fishie Nut]

I've got a new 225 gallon 72x30x24H.
I am going to have an SPS dominated tank.

What is the best lighting for this setup?

I was thinking 3x250W MH Lumenarcs, coupled with 4x96W PC actinics. Since it's 24" deep, I thought the 250s would be enough -- it's +/- 5 WPG this way

Am I better off with 400W MH; at +/- 7 WPG?

I think the tank is too wide for a 14" T5 setup.

Your thoughts, please.

 

[gabe3d]

I have a similar tank but with the inverse of your H and W. I use 3 x 250 SE with Lumenarcs and as T5 supplements and i really like it.

 

[SDguy]

I have 250's on my 31" tall tank, and am happy. I probably couldn't grow porites on the floor of my tank, but I'm ok with that

 

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, the tank is only 2' tall, so 400s just arent justified. 250wattDEs approach many of the 400s in output as well, unless you go 400wattHQI, but then your choices are limited to only a few makers (Ushio, Giesemann, Aquaconnect, Aqualine). 250wattHQI/DE bulbs in lumenarc DE pendants (reefexotics.com for $134.99).

So I would suggest 3x250wattDE, and then a few rows of blue+ T5s and super actinics. This way, you can stick to using 10,000K bulbs in the halides for the most output, and the T5s will make the tank look nice and blue. About 300 watts of T5 should be your goal... either 3 5' bulbs running on an Icecap 660 ballast, or 6x 4' bulbs on normal ballasts.

 

[Fishie Nut]

Thank you all.
I really appreciate the help.

I've got 4x96W PCs that were given to me. I'm sensing that PC are on the outs and don't really do much. True?

 

[hahnmeister]

T5s will give you about 3x the light and cost less to run. Yes, PCs are on their way out.