Lighting question

I have a 55g tank that I just finished building a complete stand and hood for. The tank isn't set up. I am now trying to decide what lighting to put in the hood of the tank. Its going to be a fish only tank so lighting obviously does'nt need to be intense. I have 6 110w VHO bulbs on my 75g reef tank. They are connected through 2 different IceCap ballasts, a 660 and a 430. I was thinking of taking the 660 and 4 of the bulbs and throwing it on the 55g tank. Then i was thinking of purchasing two halide ballasts and throwing two 250w halide bulbs on my tank. The only problem i see is that my hood on the 75g reef tank makes the lights only inches away from the water surface. What problems am I going to run into by having the halide bulbs so close to the water. Should I rebuild my hood and build it taller? Are two 250w bulbs and 2 110w VHO bulbs too much lighting for a 75g reef tank that is only 18 inches tall? Any suggestions on what you would do in my situation? :)
 

fishman1

Member
From what I understand 175W MH would be ok for 18inchs deep. Build a taller hood and have some fans to keep the air moving. Love to have that set up myself.
:D
 

q

Member
That is a question I have been debating for about 3 weeks. I have prety much decided on 2 175W 10000K coralife bulbs and 2 110W VHO bulbs.
From reading some of the posts I am starting to get the impression that the 250W bulbs might be a possible heat concern on a 75 gal but that would also depend on the individual tank set up.
So rather than chance a problem I will just put the corals that require more light in the upper 2/3's of the tank which should be plenty of light.IMHO
After all in a 75 gal thats 7.6 watts per gallon which isn't all that bad. People are using less and are still getting good results.
 
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