The next phase of lighting my tank

[Alex T.]

When I first set up my 150 SPS/clam tank, my main goal was growth. Now that my reef is filling in nicely. I have some lighting issues because of my tank construction, and would like some input as to what I'm suggesting.

Currently, I have a 72 x 18 x 27 "reef ready" Marineland 150 tank. It has one oversized center brace going right through the middle of the tank. Because of this support, a halide bulb could not be placed over it without wasting electricity or burning the support. I currently run 2 10k XM 400 watt bulbs on Blueline e ballasts with two 250 watt 10k Blueline Superwhites on Blueline eballasts which come on for only 2 hours at midday. Four 54 watt actinics are used to round out the lighting. I am over 10 watts per gallon at midday.

Everything has grown beautifully but color is not quite as awe inspiring as some of the Radium and other higher kelvin tanks I've seen . One halide in each 36" opening is starting to shade lower corals that are getting crowded out. I'd like to experiment with four 250 watt Radiums on Bluewave M80 ballasts. One at each end facing in, and two at the center brace facing each end. In essence each bulb would be facing the other in it's bank of 36" , creating two islands with light approaching from both sides.

My questions are:

1. What do you think?
2. Are these bulbs enough light for both corals and clams?
3. I realize the tank will not appear as bright with peircing white light, with an obvious reduction in par, but could this set up sustain growth and help color up my blues and purples better?

Thank you for reading and responding.

[Alex T.]

bump

[Alex T.]

28 views and no responses?

[Henry Bowman]

I think you have a good plan....I dont think you are going to need to tilt the lights very much to get the desired results. Your growth is going to slow with the 20K Radiums but I believe the color change will be very rewarding. I would also recomend very good reflectors.