BTA suitablilty

I have a 140 gallon tank with a depth of about 21". Right now I have one 48" light fixture with 4 65w pc's. I am hoping to get another from a friend who owes me so I will have two 48" fixtures with a total of 8 65w pc lights. I was wondering if this would be enough light for a BTA. My tank is a converted round lobster tank so I haven't been able to find any other threads that really helped me out. Thanks for any input.

 

yes it would be - but man, more often then not, that type of lighting is very inefficient- consider t-5's, save ya quite a bit on power. 520 watts= you could use less energy with halides, and be better off.

4 HO t5's, of equal length, are 2-8 times the PAR (usable light) then what you are considering, and consume way less energy.

 

Yeah I am a college student so I cannot afford one big fixture to utilize halide lighting. I do have two ballasts for halide lights that I got from a friend but I don't know what else I need to actually have a halide setup since I have never had one before. If the pc's are enough light I might use them until I graduate next year and then upgrade to a more efficient light system when I have the money.