Is 400watts too much for a 120?

[kevinpo]

It also depends on what animals you plan to keep. For many corals 175W or 250W would work just fine.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Frankie]

I keep mainly sps and two clams. I have a wall hammer down low and GSP. The tank is a 120, (24x24x48). The lighting is about 12" off the water surface. Sorry to bring in my troubles in this thread but i see the topic is right for it. I don't have much experience with sps, just lps and softies so i want to do the lighting right for sure.

 

[SueT]

Frankie, I think you'd be fine with 250w halides. I have them over my 120g and they fit perfectly and cover the area fine too. I did try 175's when I first got this 120g and it just wasn't enough. I also tried 400's too and it was too much. Talk about heating the house up so that didn't last too long. I have been happy with every 250w halide I've tried. Of course being the most happy with the 10k reeflux.

 

[Frankie]

Thanks Sue for the reply. It sounds like i am going to end up replacing the 2x175 with 250's and adding a third 250. I was hoping to keep the 2x175's and just add a 250 to the center to save money but keeping sps has been a challenge for me. I think it must be the lighting since water quality is on the high side and very low nutrients.

 

[SueT]

Frankie, thats going to be a lot of light over the 120g if you are going to run 3lights. Be set to have a good method of keeping the tank cool. How high does your rock structure go up in the tank?? If you water is that good then something else has to be going on.

 

[Frankie]

The rock is stepped al the way to the top. I am running a chiller that keeps the tank at 76f/78f. If you like i would love to trouble shoot this in my thread here called http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7829 I am getting a bit mift from loosing stuff. :/

 

[ecobalance]

40 breeder

I just set up a 40 breeder for a guy,that i put two 400wt reef stars over that will have mostly clams and higher algaes in it.Maybe a mangrove or two.

 

[reefman069]

i have a 125 gallon reeftank with 3 400 watt blueline ballast with 400 watt 14k blueline bulbs. the reflectors are about 11 inches from the water. sps love the high light. i have sps coral that are growing 2 inches under the top of the water line. i also have a 180 gallon frag tank that has 2 400 watt bluelines with the same bulbs. i am running with the lumenark reflectors. i would have to say the lumenark reflectors are the best you can buy.

 

[kevinpo]

The lighting is about 12" off the water surface.

Hello,
If you lower the lights to 9" you will get much more light intensity. IMO you could do fine with just 2 halides on a 48" long tank. On a 72" long tank 3 halides are recommended. For most SPS corals 250W bulbs driven by either an electronic or HQI type ballast will work fine.

Coral placement is also very important as some corals cannot take 250W light intensity if placed too close or directly under the bulbs. If you don't know what type of lighting a new coral came from be sure to acclimate it on the bottom for a couple of weeks. SPS coral death is seldom due to lighting. Water chemistry and flow, algae, predators, and other corals are more likely to kill corals. Low intensity usually just causes darkening and browning of SPS masking the cool colors we enjoy. Over long periods (6 months+) of very low lighting intensity SPS corals can perish but most aquarists usually take action long before that, (Due to the color, or lack thereof) .

Regards,
Kevin