planning lighting for 90 gallon (24" depth)

[BobinCovington]

what is a good lighting plan for me to design for a 90 gallon SPS and soft coral tank? 250 or 400 or double ended or??? What is the minimum I should consider and what is the one that most successful people use for that size of tank? Should I do a ceiling suspended or a canopy?
I will have less rock than most tanks (a small rock "island" in the center surrounded by sand. I would like to do some easier sps corals and still have a few softs and LPS corals and maybe even a clam.
On my 29 I have had a 175w blueline with an Ushio 10K bulb and T5 actinics. That lighting setup seemed pretty yellow and I would like to go just a little more toward the blueish color.

as always...everyone here always has great advice.

thanks

 

[nomercymike]

I have 90 gal Im looking to set up. Im going with a dual 250 watt PFO HQI ballast and will run 2 SE radium 10k bulbs under 2 lumenarc minis. Then have 2 48" VHO actinics.

 

[Skimmy]

my vote goes for 2 250w m.h. and 4 54w t5 bulbs, this way you can mix and match your t5's for the exact color effects you wish, with plenty of par for your sps

 

[sunburnt]

At 24 inches deep, I'd go with the dual 250watt.

 

[BobinCovington]

are the dual end HQIs better than the standard mogel based halides?

 

[Katchupoy]

Bob,

HQI's uses HQI ballast. Based on Sanjays website, HQI's have more PAR than SE bulbs. Also, the reflector HQI is using is different and most of the time smaller, thus more intense but the span of the lights is smaller than SE reflectors.

A lot of people uses HQI ballast on SE Radium bulbs then on lumenarc reflectors. Pricey but very good combo. Note, that SE bulbs run on HQI ballast results to more shorter ;life span of the bulb.

Hope this helps.

 

[BobinCovington]

are the sunpods pretty good? what brand light systems are good choices?

 

[BobinCovington]

I checked out the lumenarc mini and it looks like a high output reflector. what if I ran 1 250w and then some t5s?