SPS Lighting

[Reefingmark]

Hi guys,
I recently restarted my 75 gallon tank in an effort to make it a sps dominant tank. I have a chance to get a metal halide/t5 combo light at a very good price. My question is what wattage should I look for? Whats too high and whats too low? I know lighting is very important and I don't want to fry my corals. Please help if you can. Thanks!

 

[Diverjohn]

I have used a 250W MH with nothing else on a 75 and had good growth. I also have 4x54W HO T5's and get good growth from SPS. I have switched to LED's and have seen growth with them as well. I know people that run 150W and 250W on 75's. The wattage isnt as important as duration, IMO. T5 you can run from dawn to dusk and run MH for 4-6hrs per day.

 

[Reefingmark]

Thanks Diverjohn. The light I'm thinking of getting has 2-250w de hqi bulbs 15k, 4-54w t5 high output bulbs. I didnt know if it was too much light or not.

 

[d2mini]

Thanks Diverjohn. The light I'm thinking of getting has 2-250w de hqi bulbs 15k, 4-54w t5 high output bulbs. I didnt know if it was too much light or not.

It is a lot of light but you can play with the height of the light if you need to.
And you can play with how many hours you run the MH. I'd probably start the MH at a max of 4 hours/day and work up from there.