Too much light?

[Stilgore]

Just finished buying my lights for my 120 ( didnt even bother with lights during the cycle period). I hope to have some SPS later down the road and from what I have read they require alot of flow and light. Since I am not one to upgrade later I purchased:

2 400 watt 10k MH with electronic ballasts
2 125 watt PCs (actinics) with electronic ballasts

My tank is 48x24x24

That is about 8.75 wats per gallon. Will this harm any species of common fish or coral or am I good to go?

Thanks alot,
Stil

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

You should be fine, just avoid deep water fish, and low light corals, or put them in a shady spot.

 

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

the 400 watts depends on how close to the water they will hang. don't think i would want them much closer than 9 inches and if you do make sure you get a top off system or you'll be refilling the tank alot due to evaporation.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

I actually ran 2 400s about 6" off of my 125, with no problems.

 

[Stilgore]

Great! thanks for the replies. I am building the canopy now and I think the MHs will be around 8 to 9" from the water. I also planned on installing two computer fans to keep things cool.

thanks,
Stil

 

[rustybucket145]

I have virtually the same lighting in my 90gal except I have VHO's instead of PC's. I keep the lights about 8" off the water. One thing I have to watch out for is heat. I have a small fan blowing under my hood to keep the heat down. The first day I had the new lights w/out fan the tank got up to almost 90deg. So be careful.