Bad weather=reaquacaped

Nice halide lights! Like it very much!

How deep (tall?) is your tank? You think 150W wouldnt have been enough, would it? Do you hang the fixture or use the legs came with it?

 

my tank is 18" deep..honestly i was gonna go with a 175 but came across a sunpod for 50$ for the 250 so of course i jumped on that..i think a 150 would work fine but if you can get maybe a used fixture thats a little larger, then i would do that..my sand bed is about 2.5-3" in some areas..so that puts my tank at about 15" depth..i use the legs for the fixture, i have the hanging kit but just havent really seen the need to use it for extra clearance..i do have to cut my lights to about 3 hours a day anytime i add something coming from less light but after about a week or so i can place it wherever in the tank..another thing about having that extra light is i never have to question whether i have enough lights, which is a good thinng, knowing as long as my water is in check then everything will thrive is a good feeling...sometimes i think i have too much light, i have just over 11watts a gallon with about 370 watts and im getting about 1500 par in the top third of my tank and 1000 in the middle and 700ish at the bottom(these were estimated from a buddy that is very knowledgeable in the hobby) but i thought you cant go over like 700 ..hopefully now that i am pleased with my scape i can leave everything alone and let it grow..but it did take me almost 7 months to figure out my scape, but hey live and learn..


also with that 250 over the tank is the reason i went with the 20k..i was real nervous about having too much light..my friend sells reefoptix bulbs and im gonna try his 14k's soon since i have the actinics to supplement and maybe get better growth and more par...his tank is amazing..heres a pic of his...he absolutely swears by these bulbs and there are way cheaper..
http://cgi.ebay.com/14K-400w-ReefOp...718?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item22ffee9c46



another question for some lighting experts, is there such thing as too much par..maybe i should start a new thread for this one..just a quick answer would be great..I understand the whole thing, but it got me wondering about what my buddy came up with, he got these numbers just from his tank and what he gets with his par meter, im gonna get it and test my tank but everytime im over there i never think about it till im almost back home..my dad owns an electrical engineering company so im gonna ask him if his company owns one, im sure they would..

 

$50 for a MH is really hard to just let it pass. And more light is better than lacking, no? You can always adjust the height of the fixture to get desirable PAR.
You have no idea how much you helped with this advice. Thanks a lot. I might ask you some more about the light

 

not a problem, ill be happy to answer anything i can

 

it seems to have more depth now =) better

 

i like it!

 

thanks everyone..im bout to start a tank thread so everyone check out my pics ill be posting soon..