Halide lighting watts

wagirl81

wagirl81

Member
Hi everyone,
I just need to know how much lighting would be too much for my tank. I've gotten a lot of different answers from my lfs, so I'll ask you guys instead.
My tank is 72 gallons, and I'm looking at either double 175 watts or double 250's, but I'm not sure if 2 250's would be too much.
Thanks,
Tiffanie
 
byrself

byrself

Member
what do you plan to keep? i don't think 250s would be too much. especially if your tank is tall. jmo.
 
M

mr hanky

Guest
go with 2 250watts you will be so much happier! besides you wont have to buy more mh/ maybe just actinic suppliments!!! thats only around 6-7 watts per gallon. that could be considered not enough to some people (depends on live stock!)
mr hanky
 
mini-reefer

mini-reefer

Member
Since you said your tank is 72 gallons, Im assuming its a bowfront, right? Thats what Ive got and when I went to metal halides I ordered a dual 175 watt set-up. Now I regret it. I would go with 250's minimum and if I did it again I would go with dual 400's. The price difference is marginal and youll be a lot happier. If I could get a decent amount out of my Hamilton 175 watt ballasts, I would upgrade to 400's, for sure. WINK, WINK! :rolleyes:
 
wagirl81

wagirl81

Member
Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the advice. I figured that two 250's would be good, but my lfs said that it would be too much and fry everything. We want to keep some hard corals, but we don't want to do clams or anything like that. I appreciate the your help!
 
ironreef

ironreef

Member
It depends on what you keep. Sps will like 250w but IME more of my lps need to be placed on the bottom of my 24" tall tank. I use 250w ab 10k.On a 120g reef. So refering to "hard corals" they all may not like to much halides= LSP. But if your keeping sps,softies I would say 250w would be better. But if your going after lsp like open,closed brains some frogspawns,torches don't respond well to halides if placed in the middle or upper part of the tank= JME
 
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