2x150w or 2x250w?

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jesse!

Guest
debating between 2x150's or 2x250's its going to be over a 75g (20" tall) and I am going to be keeping alot of sps, clams, and lps and I do not want to be short of light for any of them.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
well from what I have been told, you need one bulb for every 2 feet of tank. and the wattage is based on depth. so for a 22-25 in deep tank a 250 watt bulb for every two feet would be good. JMO.
 
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markc

Guest
The 2x150w (300 watts) which is 4 watts per gallon should be fine. The 2x250w (500 watts) may be a bit overkill on a 75g tank. I have a 90 gallon with 2x250 and its fine that is about a liitle over 5 watts per gallon.
 
J

jesse!

Guest
sweet, sounds good.
dose anyone know of a good halide fixture I'm thinking of sunlight supplys or current usas.
thanks
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
2x250 watt on a 75g is far from overkill but the 175 would be ok. as far as fixtures, its been awhile since I researched them because I ended up going with t5 ho lights instead. maybe someone else could chime in here.
 
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markc

Guest
I have a current sunpod 2x250 and it works great I had it for about 2.5 years now. Never any issues or problems. I just replace the bulbs about every 8 months and that it.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
i run an old i mean old probably 16-18 yr old set up on my 90 reef.
2 175 watt mh bulbs my corals grow like crazy.
if you put 250 watt bulbs you might burn some of the more delicate corals .
cant have all the corals on the bottom
i would do the 150 watt bulbs.
t5 would be great for the corals but the shimmer the mh bulbs put out just looks awesome.
 

stanlalee

Active Member
between those choices 250wx2 WITHOUT QUESTION if you are planning on mostly sps. After having 175w x2 on a 20" tall tank and now 150wx2 on a 16" tall 3ft 30g both with sps I wouldn't recommend 150w for anything but nano cubes unless you are going to use lumenmax 3, cayman sun or other high performance pedants. I had 175 Aqualine 13k over a 20" tank (same height as a standard 75g) and all sps grew like weeds. SE 175w with decent bulbs are WAY superior to like quality reflected and (required) glass sheilded DE 150w set up but even with the 175w and the quick growth and good color I wanted 250w.
and obviously 150w will grow sps and there are plenty of examples and I grow sps fine as well with 150w. that in no way changes the fact its far inferior to a 250w x2 set up. ask almost anyone that doesn't have a nano cube thats predominantly sps with 150w and 8 out of 10 will tell you they wish or the plan on upgrading at some point. better yet ask somebody who's had both 150w and 250w and see what they say about the difference in results.
 
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