Is two 250 watt HQI metal halides too much in a 55gallon?

raw04f · #1 07/29/2007, 09:29 PM

Well are they too much?

adalon · #2 07/29/2007, 09:32 PM

Not at all I am doing 2 250's with two t5's on a 75 gallon which has the same depth. you may need to add some fans for cooling though.

clsund · #3 07/29/2007, 09:56 PM

only if you're going for overkill. haha. yeah I'd say that's way more than you need. that's way more than you need even if you've got sps. Do your fish swim around hitting the sides of the tank?

adalon · #4 07/29/2007, 10:13 PM

as I have not completed my 75 yet check out this thread she is using two 250s with reef optix 3 reflectors on a 75 gallon and having incredible results. Remember that a 75 and 55 gallon have the same depth.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...&pagenumber=25

adalon · #5 07/29/2007, 10:29 PM

woops nevermind those are 150s I think that thread distracted me

chitwnfish · #6 07/29/2007, 10:33 PM

I should probably not be answering any questions as I am still in pretty much a state of confusion as I set up/correct/ my 55 and 56!

I was told that if you are going to keep any LPS that lighting set up might be too much for a 55. I went with the MH/T5 combo with the 150's because of this.

I have no idea if it will work! I hear two thoughts that it is too much and that you can not have enough.

adalon · #7 07/29/2007, 10:49 PM

not too much I run a 150 on a ten gallon mixed reef you just must make sure to keep the lower light corals towards the bottom and you can always raise the light. If you ever decide to upgrade you will already have your lighting.
Here is a pic of a mushroom on the bottom of my tank

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and then a sps on the top

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now in a 55 to 75 gallon you have eight more inches
250s would work just fine

xtm · #8 07/29/2007, 11:17 PM

i have a 250w over my 60G and I think it's still dim.

bureau13 · #9 07/29/2007, 11:17 PM

IMO its too much. Not that you can't have a great tank with those light, but if you can do it with less, why pay the electricity company more than you need to? If you have decent reflectors and decent bulbs, I can't imagine that there are many corals you will find which will be needing more light no matter where you place them. Someone was posting about a study on photoinhibition, which is the light levels at which the corals can't use any more light (I'm no marine biologist, so let's just say that's layman's terms to the point of being mildly inaccurate, but the point is that the old adage "you can't have too much light for SPS" is apparently false.

jds

mr.maroonsalty · #10 07/29/2007, 11:28 PM

If I was set on that much light I might skip the t5 and go with a trio of 175 a pair of 50k, and a 6.5k in the middle run during peak hours

raw04f · #11 07/30/2007, 12:36 AM

So what about a 175 watt in the 55 gallon?

clsund · #12 07/30/2007, 06:57 PM

Ok, so I was going for levity in my first post, but like bureau said, why pay the electric company for wattage you're not really using? I wouldn't even put it in terms of "well I can afford it, so no problem." in this day and age of dwindling resources, pollution, global warming, etc... we need to be wise in our energy consumption. Your tank will be just fine with 250w x 2, but it will be major overkill and really unneccesary. try one 250 if you must and supplement with some t5s. the t5s produces excellent amounts of light for minimal amounts of electricity.

scaryperson27 · #13 07/31/2007, 12:12 AM

Unless you are deciding to invest in stock for the electric company, i would just keep with two 150 watt lights. One 250 would have to be raised to a blinding level in order to supplement it's light to the entire tank. SPS should be absolutely fine only being 10-20" away from a 150 watt lamp.