Lighting 150 watt or 250 watt HQI DE?

[hijkim]

I'm starting a new 55 gallon SPS tank with 30 gallon refugium.

I'm going to install two VHO URI actinic bulbs in the canopy and get 48" maristar two 150 watt HQI with T5HOs. I can't decide either to go with 150 watt or 250 watt HQI. Could two 10000K 250 watt be too bright for 55 gallon tank? I have geisemann 230 with 150 watt 20000K on my 29 gallon mini reef but the brightness has gone down quite a bit.

Thanks for any help,
Hanseung

 

[Maxx]

Hanseung,
The answer depends....

Personally, I feel you'd be fine with the 150 watt DE's over a 55, (20 inches high), but if you even think you might eventually upgrade to a different, (deeper) tank, I would suggest getting the 250's.

You'll also have more bulb choices available in the 250 watt version.

Nick

 

[kevinpo]

Helo,
That really depends on what you want to keep. For the majority of corals 150W bulbs are fine. For shallow water Acropora type corals you would want to go with the 250W bulbs to keep the bright colors.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[punky34]

New Lights just installed

Last night I just installed Hamilton 250w 14000k ME lights (2). They have a 2 feet spread so on my 48in long tank I installed two of them. It costs me $517. WOW it's bright and with 14000k the BLUE is BLOOOOO. It's like the sun over my tank. I hope that is enough light for me but the color is awesome. It has much more bluer hue and reds are brighter and yellows are YELLOW, Green is more florescent than my old Actinic Coral-life compacts I had on there before (3 Actinics). Also when it gets cold in my apt. I just lift the hood up and it's an instant heater.

60 gal, 48in long by 18in tall. Protein skimmer, UV, 20gal sumpWD.

 

[SueT]

I'm going to say go for the 250w. In this like was mentioned you will have a very wide range of brands to then decide what to go with. If you like the bluer spectrum, then the 20k, 14k or like the reeflux I'm using the 250w 10k is awesome. A bit of both in this 1 bulb and the blues are off the chart.