250 watt Sunpod Fixture

Any one have success with 2 250 watt Mh bulbs over a 46 gallon tank without any heat issues. I would like to upgrade from my 150 watt sunpod. I have a fan in the back with no heat issues but I think the Corals would probably do better. I have a mixed reef tank. I have the 20,000K XM Bulbs and my Sps is between 6-12 inches under the bulbs
Adam

 

You might have to much light already, if your having coral growth issues that can be related to to intense of lighting doubling it could cause it to worsen or to burn corals

NVM just re-read this I thought you had a 2x150w fixture, I wouldn't do a 2x250 over smaller than a 75 or 90 though

 

I do have a 2 150 watt sunpod but was thinking of the 2 250 watt sunpod

 

Hello,
I had the 2x150 sunpod on my 55 and switched to the 2x250. I had to get a chiller, quick. My tank was a 55g open top w/ mag 9.5 return. I will say I liked the 250s wayyyy better. The external ballasts are much nicer than the internal electronics on the 150. It was super bright but IMO it was overkill. Although it looked great.

 

There is a new article in the TFH mag that starts to talk about photo-inhibition... Essentially Fatherree summed up an article by Dana Riddle. It goes into a subject I haven't seen printed yet and was LONG coming!! It goes into how much PAR do corals REALLY need and how much is too much!! It has been proven that once the threshhold is reached(photosaturation) the zooxanthellae will no longer add more "food" to the host coral. So increasing light is a waste of money and energy. Even further past the saturation point is the photinhibition point where the zooxanthellae will actually produce LESS "food" and the growth of the coral is inhibited-no pun intended. It is an interesting read and has links to Dana'a article in back. To quote both Riddle and Sprung & Delbeek, "most corals will grow well in light intensities of 200-300 Mol/m2/sec, and most coral variety in the wild is found in areas of under 300 Mol/m2/sec."

To answer your specific question, how are the corals growing? Heat can EASILY be dealt with, but TOO much light is a different story.

Know anyone with a quantum meter?
Happy reefing!