MH Wattage vs Height & Depth

CliffTex · 06/23/2008, 06:49 AM

I have been reading for several days trying to make up my mind on the wattage of lighting I will need. There are so many opinions but I can't really find anything to answer my specific question. I have ordered a 60x30x26 AGE which of course is not a very deep aquarium. Many people use 400w bulbs on 24" depth aquariums but many say 250w is fine. Then there is the 5W per gallon rule that really confuses everything on my build.

Since my tank is a "brick" style that is fairly shallow, I would think that having a more evenly dispersed light across the width and depth is more important than having a huge amount of wattage to penetrate the height. The last thing I want to do is have an overkill in wattage which of course creates more heat and costs more to run.

My thoughts are to use a couple of Lumenmax "Elite" reflectors with 250W bulbs and 4- "48" T5s for dialing in my colors. I intend on having a largely SPS dominated aquarium.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

CliffTex · 06/23/2008, 07:50 PM

bump

DarG · 06/23/2008, 08:04 PM

Depth is the usual determining factor for wattage of halides. Reflector type in combination with number of halides covers length width.

What wattage for what depth is not a cut and dry answer. Not all bulbs of the same wattage provide the same par. At 26" deep you should be able to run 250 watt halides with the reflectors you are thinking about, they are among the best. But if you are running BB and you plan on high light corals down near the bottom or maybe clams, you may just need to choose higher par bulbs ... 10K's and some 14K's. You can blue them up if you want bluer with the flourescents. If you want to run blue halides then you may want to go 400 watt. But 250 watt would work as long as you dont require the bluer halides which have less par ... and even if you do, you still would be fine with the 4 T5's and staying flexible with placement of high light corals.

06/23/2008, 06:49 AM	#1
CliffTex Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 33	MH Wattage vs Height & Depth I have been reading for several days trying to make up my mind on the wattage of lighting I will need. There are so many opinions but I can't really find anything to answer my specific question. I have ordered a 60x30x26 AGE which of course is not a very deep aquarium. Many people use 400w bulbs on 24" depth aquariums but many say 250w is fine. Then there is the 5W per gallon rule that really confuses everything on my build. Since my tank is a "brick" style that is fairly shallow, I would think that having a more evenly dispersed light across the width and depth is more important than having a huge amount of wattage to penetrate the height. The last thing I want to do is have an overkill in wattage which of course creates more heat and costs more to run. My thoughts are to use a couple of Lumenmax "Elite" reflectors with 250W bulbs and 4- "48" T5s for dialing in my colors. I intend on having a largely SPS dominated aquarium. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

06/23/2008, 07:50 PM	#2
CliffTex Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 33	bump

06/23/2008, 08:04 PM	#3
DarG Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 5,515	Depth is the usual determining factor for wattage of halides. Reflector type in combination with number of halides covers length width. What wattage for what depth is not a cut and dry answer. Not all bulbs of the same wattage provide the same par. At 26" deep you should be able to run 250 watt halides with the reflectors you are thinking about, they are among the best. But if you are running BB and you plan on high light corals down near the bottom or maybe clams, you may just need to choose higher par bulbs ... 10K's and some 14K's. You can blue them up if you want bluer with the flourescents. If you want to run blue halides then you may want to go 400 watt. But 250 watt would work as long as you dont require the bluer halides which have less par ... and even if you do, you still would be fine with the 4 T5's and staying flexible with placement of high light corals.