lighting a 75 gallon reef

[gooch]

I have a friend who has a 75 gallon reef tank. She bought the modern oak stand. I have a cabinet maker working on a matching canopy for the tank. It is currently lit by smartlight compact striplights. Question is. Do we upgrade to vho, or metal halide. This is a simple reef with many mushrooms and soft corals, lps's also. No intention to attempt sps. What would you do, I dont want to cause the mushrooms to close up since these are her favorites. If mh are two 175's 10k enough. Honestly I am leaning toward Ice cap 660 ballast and 4 vho's. Tell me what you think. thanks gooch

[skipm]

As long as you stay with corals that don't demand alot of light then ether go with the VHOs or stick with the PCs. To answer your other question you need one MH for every 2 feet of tank length so 2 MHs are the right number of bulbs for a 75 but keep in mind that you will still have to use flourescents for actinic lighting. Skip

[bigtank]

I personally cannot stand VHO. They are so pink and purple!
PCs are $$$, both initially and when replacing bulbs. IMO, go with MH so you won't have to upgrade later :)

She may not want SPS now, but she probably will eventually. 175 10k are not enough for them. A dual PFO 250 retro with 10k bulbs would be good, but Iwasaki are cheaper and twice as bright. She can put the shrooms in shady areas anyway. Plus there's the ripple lines and realistic color, instead of pink VHOs :) Cheaper in the long run and SO much better!