lighting wattage?

[deejeff442]

i am upsizing from my 15 yr old 90 gallon to a 150 gallon.
18 by 72 by 28.
i have kept a reef for a long time now but its been so long without a fish dying or having corals i cannot remember alot of things.my 90 reef has no filter system at all just a rubbermade sump and live rock.i do have a uv steralizer ,big skimmer and a big wet /dry for the 150 gallon.i will run the wet/dry but do i really need the other stuff if i get more live rock?
i want to get some corals i have read 5 watts per gallon.
thats around 700 watts.is that right?
does that mean metal halide and tube light or just tube lighting?
won't that much light burn the eyes out of the fish?semi-kidding
i have had the 150 gallon running a few years ago but two tanks were tooo many but i now can upsize and add corals.
thanks in advance.

 

[devil dog]

I would run three 400w MH 14000k and that’s it... that way you can keep anything you want in there and you will not need to upgrade later... see its not watts per gallon its your depth... you need the light to reach the bottom and you will be fine with the 400w MH...
I hope that helps

Good luck

 

[deejeff442]

so your saying i need 1200 watts?
where do i find a unit all i can find are 250 watt units

 

[salt210]

devil dog is refering to a system of 400w bulbs. 3 prob. devil are you sure about 3x400w? why not go 3x250w with T5 supplement lighting?
just put the very light demanding animals up in the tank rather than on the substrate

 

[deejeff442]

i was thinkin the space shuttle might be able to see the tank with 3 400 watt bulbs.i have a light set up that is 10 years old it has 2 halise bulbs and two tube bulbs with a fan set up.i think it was around $700 dollars back then but the tube bulbs dont work anymor for some reason but the halide lights do .are there places that can repair this unit?maybe an electriction?

 

[devil dog]

Originally Posted by salt210
http:///forum/post/2754627
devil dog is refering to a system of 400w bulbs. 3 prob. devil are you sure about 3x400w? why not go 3x250w with T5 supplement lighting?
just put the very light demanding animals up in the tank rather than on the substrate
yeah you could do that but you need to know more about what your going to put in there and where the best place it should go... and with the 400MH you will not need to up upgrade later if you go to sps and you if you... IMO...