Sps Lighting

[reefer44]

Is one 175 watt MH pendent (just has one 175w bulb and is in the middle of the tank about 1'6" above water) and two actinic blue flouresense 15w each (mounted on the wall behind the tank)on a 55 gallon enough for SPS corals to live(acropora and monitpora mainly)?

 

[reefer44]

I thought so.....i am saving up for another pendant but thats going to take awhile i am only 15.....but i should be able to scrape up 300 dollars by the time my coraline starts growing well (which i think is the time to add corals, worked well on last tank)
i only started my tank about a month ago
thanks

 

[spsfreak100]

As Kip already stated, you would be much better off running 2x 250wt halides, compared to a 175wt halide. With only 175wts (and, eventually another 175wts in the future), you would be quite limited to what you could buy and have thrive. Most Acroporids would live under that lighting, although they would do much better under 250wt halides. Montipora spp. should do fine under that lighting, but it's the Acropora sp. that I'm worried about.
Also, to my understanding, a 250wt pendant isn't much more than a 175wt pendant (depending where you look).
i only started my tank about a month ago
That means you should plenty of time to save up! I personally recommend waiting at least 7 months before adding any small polyped scleractinians.
If I am correct, many Europien reefers use the method of waiting until they have 7 patches of coralline, at least the size of 50 cent peices, before they start to stock their tank. This may be a good method to use, but, I've had any experience with using that method so I couldn't tell you if it would be the rout to go or not.
Graham