To much light? Or Just enough? Please Advise.

[grapejelly]

I am working on my 150gal set up and I think I have chosen the lights I want. Tank dims are 72x18.5x29....
Custom Setup....
I will have 3 MH fixtures 250s...and then 72" Retro VHO Blue actinic and 72" Retro VHO 50/50s...(4 Bulbs total) With the MH 7 Lights overall...MH in the middle and VHO paris on either side....
Is this to much?? Mind you I will have a controler and I can customize what I want on off etc.....just wanted some opinions....


thank you every one....

 

[jbishop]

Plenty. I have a 155 bow and run 2 x 175s on the end and a 250 in the middle. I think with 3 250s you will be fine

 

[JohnK]

I agree, the 3x250 should be plenty for almost anything you'd want to keep in there.

Adding 2x VHO for actinic supplementation would be a nice addition though mostly asthetic.

I'd definately skip the 2x VHO 50/50s as they would mostly just make for more heat and electricity consumption with little to no benifit.

FWIW, most people consider VHO outdated these days. The few holdouts tend to argue that VHO actinic can't be matched for it's ability to make things visually "pop". I don't think anyone would argue that it's worth using VHO to run daylight bulbs anymore.

 

[afboundguy]

With that setup you could keep anything IMO...

I'd definately skip the 2x VHO 50/50s as they would mostly just make for more heat and electricity consumption with little to no benifit.

Have you considered T5's for actinic/blue lights? Save on energy and less heat...

 

[JayM]

What kind of reflectors on the setup?
What kind of ballasts for the MH?

I agree about T-5 vs VHO.....esp with the right reflectors.

You should be able to keep SPS right on the sand with that setup.....

 

[addictedreefer]

Sounds perfect to me... definately not too much as I run 3x400watt MH in my 210. I also run supplementary VHO actinics and they seem to do a good job of adding some blue to my 10ks.

 

[frank180reef]

wow thats a lot of light,
I just upgraded my 180 gallon to 3 x250 from 2x250 and a 175.................


makes a difference, then again i am not trying to raise sps

 

[Sokretys]

I heard he was going with 15,000k XM's, Galaxy ballasts and lumenmax 2 reflectors...could be mistaken though