300 gal light set up?

[holloway]

Hello, new to saltwater (freshwater vet) went whole hog and got a 300 gal set up. The more I'm researching the more I'm finding out that what I have for lighting is inferior. What I have now are 7 T-5 Helios flourescent bulbs
1 60" 48w white
2 36" 28w blue (actinic?)
2 48" 38w white
2 48 " 28w Blue
Total 236watts
I want to upgrade my lighting (by adding to what I have) so that I can have sufficient illumination for sps and clams. I'm interested in both color and growth, but if I had to lean towards one I would choose color. I have one green Zooanthid and it has grown app 3X the size I bought it 3 weeks ago. Leaving the lights on 8 hrs a day. It even has a polyp growing in a different location of the tank. It's more brown than green. The tank dimensions are 8'L x 2'w x 30" h.
I'm leaning towards MH XM 20k bulbs. Question is should I go with 4 @250 watts or 3 @400 watts for that size tank? I was told to seek out electronic ballasts vs magnetic ballasts because of heat issues. Do they make electronic ballasts for 400 watt bulbs? What brands ( bulb, size, ballast, reflector, etc.) do you recommend to someone with minimal experience? I would prefer the white clarity with a little blue. But most important is the spectrum it will provide. This seems to be the area I've been warned not to be cheap because of it's importance for a successful reef tank. Shed a little light on me. Anything posted is much appreciated.

 

[a&m aggie 04']

if i understand right, you'll need one light for every 2 ft of tank width. The 400W are for deeper tanks. Im guessing your tank is 8 ft wide and 30+ inches tall, im not sure which bulb to use for your tank depth but i believe you'll need 4 bulbs either way.
The 20k bulbs have a blue tint to them, you say you want more white. What you could do is get 4, 10k (crisp white) or 4- 12k bulbs and then use your existing reg. florescent bulbs (get actinic blue bulbs) to add the amount of blue you want to the tank
HTH,
Mark

 

[jlem]

Have you thought about selling your T-5's and going with 6 ft VHO actinics to suppliment your MH. The reason why I ask is because you may be able to sell your t-5's for what it would cost for a set of 6 ft VHO's. I do not know the price of t-5 bulbs but 2 VHO bulbs have got to be cheaper than 7 t-5 bulbs. I only have VHO so I could not tell you much of anything about MH except I would love to eventually get some

 

[krunk]

id go with 3x400's.kep a few of your other lights for coverage.

 

[reefnut]

Personally I would keep all the existing lighting and add 4- 400w MH.
Or... Remove the existing lighting and get 4- 72" 160w Actinic VHOs and 4- 400w 10,000 MH. That would be sweet

 

[wamp]

The T5 blues would be good as supplementals. I have read they are better than VHO and closer to MH.. I have no experience with them but they are the new thing overseas..
I would go with 400W halides all the way across if money was not an issue.. Since it is 8' long, I would have 4 halides..
I would also keep the T5 for sunrise sunset affect..

 

[holloway]

Wow! Thanks a lot for all the replies. I will go for the 4 400watt MH set up. I will keep my existing t-5's, change all the bulbs to actinics for that dawn /dusk effect. I will probably get the 10K ushios. Does anyone have experience with ice cap ballasts? I have no idea what the best electronic ballasts are. This is the current set up to date. Thanks everybody. Now who has the best prices? Hellolights?