3 175w MH and 4 t-5 actintics

ok so run the MH for 8hrs no prob. the only prob is my t-5's are all tied together. so if i get them split up do i run just the actintics for 16-18 hrs or do i run all t-5's actintics and the day t-5's for 16-18 hrs

 

is it enough to have all the t-5's be actintics and have just the two MH's for day bulbs or do i need to keep it the way i have it with two t-5's as day and two t-5's as actintics.

 

I would recommend running 2 of the Iwaski 175 MH 15K Bulbs and with your T5 supplementation you would be fine. The Iwaski bulb has a par as high as the same kelvin 250 watt. I ran these and could grow SPS with good color 12 inches down.

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=55_57_60&products_id=762

Check out the reviews

15K 175watt Metal Halide Bulb - Iwasaki: Premium Aquatics

 

ok so i will go with those iwaski bulbs but im not sure what your agreeing with. do i run all actintics or half and half?

 

I would run the MH for daylights and the T5 for actinics. Have you ever thought about running just t5's? I switched to all T5's an love them.

 

these are the bulbs I run and they are phenomenal. The reviews are true that they look like a 10k rather than a 15 but that's because of the intensity. You will need to use the t-5's for actinics tho. You will LOVE these bulbs

 

ok so you run your tank for 15-18 with just actintics and then around 8hrs a day you have the MH's on right

 

sounds about right

 

Hold the phone here. 16 to 18 hrs of daylight is a lot of light and will cause unnecessary algae in your tank. I could be wrong but I would mix either 50/50 on the two T5's or 2 blues and 2 daylights and have the blues come on for dawn/dusk for 2 hrs in the morning then have the other T5 daylights come on for 1 1/2 hrs and then have the 2 175 MH come on for 5 hours then work it back the other way after 1 1/2 hours shut off the Daylight T5 strip and then 2 hrs later turn off the dawn/dusk T5's and turn on the moonlights. This will hope to keep the temperature in check and the algae from getting out of control. Just my opinion. And yes T5's are great as stand alone lights but need to be set up properly. See the grim reefer at http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1553614&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
This is an unusually long thread of some 40 pages of reading about T5 lighting but the knowledge will be good to know.
He is the expert on T5 bulb placement for your fixtures. Let him know what types of coral you have and want and he'll design a set up for you. A 6 bulb T5 light fixture or 3x2 T5 fixtures is a good way to go too. My tank is bigger than yours I have an 8x54W T5 for my 48x24x24 120g reef and all is well. I have a coralife dual timer for all my lights and it works great. Just a word of caution never turn the timer dials backwords if you go past the right time go all the way around. My LFS says that's how they all break. I've had 2 that worked fine. Good luck.