I have tried many of lighting on these tanks and the only one that put off too much of a reflection was a tek t5 unit I tested out. It was not overwhelming but you could see the bulbs in the water, so it was annoying.
With the MH there is little to no glare depending on the angle. I also am using two pendants on this tank.
The best set up, as far as least reflection, was when I was running a SE 20k XM 400W on an m59 with a lumenarc reflector. I went to the two 250w DE because the spread was not enough with the one lumenarc and posterior polyps were really reaching for the light.
The flow is a but tricky and it takes a lot of moving your power heads and returns to just the right spot so the currents are not colliding, except lower in the tank. I had a very tough time because of the clam in the center in trying to maximize flow. It just took a lot of tinkering with height of the returns as well as the Seio's.
In my tank now I think I am around a 70x turnover as far as flow goes and I can see very little ripple effect on the top of the water. It is also key to keep the flow wide and not in a stream.
I really prefer the top down view it a really different approach to viewing and seems more natural-like you are looking down at a reef lagoon in the ocean, rather than through a piece of sterile, man made glass. It might not be for everyone but I sure like it!
You are more than welcome to PM me your design plans for the tank you are thinking about. Size, depth etc.. and I can give you some advice on the best place for returns and a few more tid bits in order to help you achieve the max flow with the least ripple effect on the surface. I have experimented way too many times to count on 3 different top down view tanks. good luck
