What type of lighting do you use on your 30" tall?

[Jmason95]

I recently purchased a used 300 gallon system which came with the works.

The tank measures 96x30x24 (that's 30" tall, I don't know if I did the dimensions right) and is acrylic.

It has a canopy with 4 400w HQI Hamilton Reef Star pendants. Now I plan on keeping just SPS so my question is, is the 400w too much? I was thinking of down grading to 250w and maybe adding some actinic lighting, maybe PC or VHO.

So those who have 30" tall tanks, what works for you?

Thanks...

 

[Nanook]

I would definitely use 400w bulbs on 30" tall tank for acros. If you did LPS/softies, then 250s would suffice.

 

[tangers]

I have a buddy with a 450, 30" deep. He is running t5's, just 16x54. He had clams on the bottom for a long time before he took them out when he got an emporer angel. They did fine. I would recomend a few more bulbs than he ran (8ft tank) and possibly even overdrive them on icecap ballasts and you should be fine.

 

[mflamb]

I have a 30" tank with 250 MH and VHO actinic. I have a 5" to 8" DSB, so my rock and coral are a little higher than most in a 30" tank.

 

[nyvp]

250's are fine def if you use xm 20k with actinics. I used radium 20k 400w on pfo ballasts in lum III on my 120Lx36Wx30H tank

 

[mrcrab]

I've got a 350, 96 X 30 X 30. I run 3 X 250 DE's, Ushio 14k's and supplement with 4 X 39 W and 4 X 54 W T5 UVL Super actinics.

I've got clams on the bottom and a SSB. No problems. It's a mixed reef, but prodominately SPS.

 

[RParker]

i have 14k 400's on my 30" deep tank and I plan to use the same lighting on my 40" deep tank when I get it ordered

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12683869#post12683869 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RParker
i have 14k 400's on my 30" deep tank and I plan to use the same lighting on my 40" deep tank when I get it ordered

You must have long arms!!!

 

[JCURRY@WESKETCH]

It really depends on which combo of ballast & bulb your going to use. There are some 250 watt combos that will out perform (ie more PAR) some of the 400 watt combos. Check out Sanjay's reef lighting site and do a comparison.

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

Go to "Search Performance Data" then "By Lamp & Ballast"

 

[ReefingBuddha]

have 2x 400's on mine. Would like a little more though.

 

[FishyBiz]

My tank is 30" deep and I run two 400 watt 20K Helios on Galaxy ballasts.