250W MH Penatration?

kybreos · #1 09/06/2005, 06:10 PM

Im thinking of redoing my aquascaping, you know just cause im bored lol, anyhow my 250w is in the middle and my 2 175w are on each side of it. The tank is an AGA 125, 6ft long 22inches deep. I am using spider reflectors for all of the MHs. Anyhow I was wondering if the 250w would penetrate to the bottom of the tank. I want to try the 2 outcrop setup, you know with the rocks stacked on the sides and the open sand bed area in the middle. Right now my open sand area is on one side of the tank about a 1/3 of it. After I reaquascape my acros will no longer be directly under the 250 and more so under the 175s higher up of course and gradually deeper as they get close to the 250 from either side. Will the 250 still give enough light to some of the acros and other sps lower in the tank than they are now?

kybreos · #2 09/06/2005, 07:18 PM

bump

Ti · #3 09/06/2005, 07:40 PM

Try it.

phishlet · #4 09/06/2005, 07:44 PM

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. In general, yes, 250w MH's should penetrate the bottom just fine on a standard 125 gallon tank. If you're looking to have a lot of sps I would suggest 250w lamps as minium for a tank that size. You might want to try a 400 watt lamp in the middle and a 250w lamp on either end. Generally, 175w lamps will not produce enough intensity for a 125 gallon standard tank. If you're not looking to keep high light animals (like sps, clams etc.) under the 175's you'll be fine.

Also, you didn't mention what Kelvin rating lamps you are using. For example, 14k or 20k lamps are going to produce less intensity (usable light) than 6500k or 10k lamps (generally speaking). So if you stick with your 175 watters on the ends you might want to make sure they are 10k lamps.

Hope this helps.

kybreos · #5 09/06/2005, 10:19 PM

I'm using 14k AquaConnects for both the 175w and the 250w. I was told that because of the spider reflectors the brightest light will be where the 175s light cross the 250s so almost a 45 degree angle from the position of the bulbs so my thinking is that if i do two out croppings that the brightest points will be on the inside inclines of the mounds. I was wondering if anyone can confirm my line of thought or give my some pointers to maximize my lighting that I have for my corals. My equipment is listed in my sig.
TIA
Kybreos