Enough?

2 Odyssea Metal Halide 20 In Fixture Aquarium Lights - 223 watt each.

Specifications - HQI lamp can either take 175 watt 10,000 k or 175 watt 20,000 k. Also has CF lamp 24 watt 2 Actinic blue AND blue moon has 2 LED's.


My question is, will this be enough lighting for my tank? It is 4X2X2 (140 gallons). Or will I need to run some of the T5's along with this? From what I remeber u want 4-5 watts per gallon correct?

I know I am hitting the board with alotta questions just wanna make sure I am getting this thing right. Got some stuff to read today also. Thanks again everybody.

TonyT

 

You might want to look at 250W lights to get good lighting down to the sand.

 

welcome...please keep asking questions! It depends on the type of corals you are thinking about keeping.
How are the actenic lights placed. Do they cover the entire length of the tank? I personally think you probably need a few more actenics.

What bulbs are you going to run in the MH? The 10k will be more bright and tends to be more yellow. 12K is a little more softer and less yellow.

Have you bought the fixture yet? If not I agree, might want to look at 250W fixture. In my tank, I have a 135g and I have 4 250W 14K MH and a total 8 actenics and 12 LED blue moonlights. I am able to grow basically whatever kind of coral I want

 

Holy $#!# thats alot of light. I would be affraid of getting a sun burn looking at the tank. Thanks for the pointers guys.

 

Yeah he's a madman, but a successful one.

 

lol! When I first had them I thought I was going to need sunglasses. I will say, my electric bill has increased majorly ;D

However I probably should have stressed...it is 2 light fixtures, 2 MH and 4 actenics on the right side and 2 MH and 4 actenics on the left. I have them set on timers so it is like the sun coming up and going down. The actenics on the right side come on, and in an hour or so the MH on that side come on. The actenics on the left side come on in about an hour after that. The right side MH stay on for about 4 hours and then shuts off. When the right side kicks off the left side MH come on for about 4 hours. Then when that kicks off the right actenics shut off and then the left actenics.

again it depends on the type of corals you want to keep and your personal preference. I personally like the blue tint that the 14K and actenics give my tank. Others prefer the whiter lights. My deeper water acros does seem to like the blue tint also. The higher the K of MH the slower the growth IMO, but the coloration of the corals are better. It does just require a little forethought of what you want. I have some caves and ledges that I have placed some of the corals that does not like as much light.

I do have a frag tank that I am eventually planning on setting up...when money is there... and with that tank I am going to go with 10k bulbs to force the growth and then place them back in the DT to color up.