Tank of Month Lighting Question

[fishforme]

That Tank of the Month is amazing but I have a question regarding the light output. He has a 180gallon tank and uses 6 MH light that comprise 1725watts of light. That's 9.58 Watts per gallon. Now it's got me thinking. I was always told 3-5 watts per gallon. I have a 90 gallon All-Glass and I thought I was ahead of the curve with 2 250W MH lights. I'm pushing 5.5 watts per gallon. Should I go to two 400watt blubs and change the ballasts? Should I add two more 250W bulbs to give a total of 1000watts. Now that's alot of light.... Is there such thing as too much light? Am I missing something?

[reefcrazed]

That is a great question. The tank looks AWESOME. I am thinking about upgrading my lighting as well. I currently have a 350g (34" tall) with 3-400W MH, 2-175W MH, 4-48" 03 VHO's (Icecap 660). I am thinking about getting 2 more 400W MH and removing my 2-175MH. What do you guys think? I am currently running the Blue line E-ballasts for my 400W MH.

[Wolverine]

There's some debate as to whether or not there can be too much light. I personally feel that you'll be hard pressed to get too much light over an aquarium, especially when you compare that to what corals experience in nature. There can be too much light for a given species, in which case you have to find ways to shade it a little.

If things are doing well in your tank, I wouldn't rush out to add more lighting. The W/g rule is really not a very good judge of lighting for the tank. It's sort of like the X inches per gallon rule for fish; it's a nice place to start, but it's far from a tell-all.

Dave

[6-line]

fishforme,

I ahve 2x250 watt over my 90 and I believe I could handle just about everything.
400s would be better, obviously, but 250 would be fine. I supplement mine with 2x110 watt VHO actinic.

Todd

[fishforme]

I don't supplement at all. I use two 250W 12k Sunburst lights. They're actually only about 4" off the water. Works great. Maybe I'll add two 175W MH, change teh 250W to 10k and then make the 175W 20K... maybe I won't do anything... I'm currently building a new canopy so this is the time to think about it...

[cacplkings]

Chris,

If you already have (2) 250w's, why add a pair of 175w's?
Just make the jump to a dual 400w.

Just a thought.

I am running mine as shown below.

Chris