can you have to much light

[danger dave]

i was wondering if i could have to much light over my 90 i have 6 bulb t5 over it now and i want to do a sps and lps mixed reef i want to run 4 250s will this be a good idea or would 150s be better

 

[Krish]

Too much light IMO is like asking can you have too much flow Couldn't say for sure, but IMO, nothing beats mother nature and the sun! (4) 250's I think would be overkill IMO though. In my opinion, you really only need dual 250's for a standard 90 gal. Also, heat would be a major factor running (4) 250's!:shock: Dual 250's made me buy a chiller and hook up 5 fans in my canopy as well as one on my sump on a 75gal setup I had with central air on all the time so just be careful

Just a few thoughts till the others chime in

 

[mmkeeper]

I think the power company would love you. I would hate to have to replace all the water that would evaporate off and deal with water temp issues. I have a 75 mixed lps sps mainly and run 2 175 mh 20k and I have good growth and little heat issues. A 90 and 75 are the same width 48 inches I believe.

 

[danger dave]

yes they are but what i was wanting to do is have my actinic come on at 7 then a 9 have (2) 250s come on and then at 11 have all (4) 250s and actinic on and have (2) 250s turn off at 3 then have all the metal halides go off at 6 and have my actinic go off at 7 and my moon light turn on at 730 and turn off at 630 am does that sound good
do you think (4) 150s would be good ?

 

[pitmam01]

I have 2- 250 mh on my 90 gal, 2 t5's, 2 canopy fans and keep my air conditioning set at 78. My temp stays around 78 to 80. I can't imagine have 4 of those suckers. Hope you don't put them in a room where you sleep, lol.

 

[morgan]

how about 2 400watts i would probly run 2 400watts on a 90 with 2 BASIC fluros evening night
that timer situation sound complicated run 2 400 before 4 250 imo i think 2 400s might be cheaper when it comes time to replace bulbs

 

[danger dave]

well i want to be able to turn half of the lights on and dont want it to only be lite on one side

 

[morgan]

like a sunrise aye

 

[danger dave]

ya thats what i was going for

 

[krisfal]

What about a 3 MH set up? I have 3 - 250W MH over my 130, The center one (10k) comes on first and then the 2 outer ones (15K) come on a few hours later. I reverse that at night. I would like to add some atanics to this set-up, because I really like that look in the evening (I have atanics on the 46G). I really like the staggered start-up Like you are looking for but agree 4 MH lights on a 90 are possibly overkill.

 

[danger dave]

ya i could do three
well would (2) 250 for noon light and (2) 150 for mrning and evening light its the same amount of light as (3) 250

 

[krisfal]

ya i could do three
well would (2) 250 for noon light and (2) 150 for mrning and evening light its the same amount of light as (3) 250

I am not knowledgable enough to comment on the amount of light. I think your bigger issue is going to be heat and evaporation. My 3 250s on the 130 add a lot of heat. I have 4 fans in the canopy and AC in the room and still have heat issues on the warmest days. Are you planning on running a chiller? I lose about 2.5 gallons of water to evaporation each day.

 

[danger dave]

i allready have a chiller
and my tank is in the middle of the house where it doesnt get light or heat from windows and it have the ac vent right above it (i did that to keep the heat down) and i have 2 fans in my canopy (its not solid like most canopys it has a board oand the 6 in of nothing and the another board and the more space if you get what im saying) when i get metals ill add 2 more fans

 

[Sherman]

I don't think the 150s would punch deep enough into the water, so I'd rule them out. I also don't think there'd be any appreciable gain from running "even more intense" lighting for just part of the day. Seriously, 2x250w will light up the tank nicely. I don't see any possible gain from another pair of 250s.

 

[burning2nd]

Heat= wasted electricity

4 150's with masive air movement over ther bulbs.....

like a sealed canopy with pull and pushing fans......

 

[danger dave]

i dont want the extra light i want to do the light cycle i mentioned above to resemble sun intensity in the wild

 

[plack]

Buy a Polaris !!!! The new Higher wattage ones will dim evenly ALL over even better than what you are thinking of !!!!



Paul

 

[Sherman]

Just a personal opinion... if you've never seen the Polaris in person.

Doesn't cut it.

The intensity just isn't there, sorry. And the coverage is SO minimal. 12" wide, at best.