sps tank

[miztahphong2]

what kind of lighting do you think will be sufficient to have an sps dominated tank? i was thinking 4 250 watt metal halide with 2 160 watt vhos. by the way do you have any links to sites where people have 100 gallon sps tanks with their equipment and what not?

Dont know the specs on the tank so this is gonna be a shot in the dark...

I think that as long as you have a 250 watt to 400 watt halide for each two square feet of tank you will be okay. I will assume since your talking 160 watt VHO's that the tank in question is 72 inches. If thats the case then 3 metal Halide fixtures will be about right.

I am currently using 3 x 400 watt metal halides with 10K bulbs in pendents with 2 x 32 watt PC actinics, backed up by 2 x 160 watt VHO actinics over a 135 gallon tank. My tank is doing much better than when I had 3 x 250 watt 6,500K halides and just 2 x 160 watt VHO's. The only changes I am considering at the moment on my lights is that I may replace the halide bulbs with 20K's at bulb change time and depending on how blue the light is I will swap out the acinic lights for "DayTime" lights.

Thats just my take on this. Lighting is a very subjective subject and what works for one may not work for another. I definitely recommend halides for SPS tanks though. On a special note, while the 250's will be great on a 135 gallon tank, if you are thinking of upgrading to a bigger tank at a later date then you might want to consider the 400's as you wont have to go though the expense of getting a new lighting set up when you do upgrade. This is just a thought you might want to consider.

[miztahphong2]

16x18x24 is the deminsions. so 3 400 watt metal halides with 2 160 vhos should be more than enough? would the lighting be too strong for soft corals if they were placed at the bottom? such as toadstools?

[Condiman]

16x18x24 is the deminsions. so 3 400 watt metal halides with 2 160 vhos should be more than enough? would the lighting be too strong for soft corals if they were placed at the bottom? such as toadstools?

I would go with 2 - 400 watt with 2 -160 vho. Because a MH has a 3 foot spread.

[miztahphong2]

ohh okay.. so imma go with 2 400 watt radium 20k and 2 160s. thanks everyone.

[cich1]

16x18x24? is that a typo?

[Condiman]

Nice catch cich1 if those are the correct measurements he would be better off going with one 400 watt MH then two.