55 gal lightiong setup

I am looking to move my 55 gallon to support SPS corals, and I know I need to upgrade my lighting.
right now i have 4x54W HO T5 (2 blue 2 daylight)
tank occupants
ricordea mushrooms
sun coral ( in a cave)
flower pot coral
frogspawn
rose bubble tip anemone
and various fish

I am looking at 2 new lighting options and im not sure which is a better idea for my tank, im not too concerned with cost, but i dont want to spend 100s extra for little/no benefit.

option 1) 6x54W HO T5 with individual reflectors on each bulb and 4 lunar night LEDs. Is this enough lighting for SPS in 55 gallon tank?

option 2) fixture with 2x150W HQI, 2x54W HO T5 and 4 Lunar LEDs
is this too much light for this small of a tank? will my LPS and soft corals do ok with this if i move then to bottom part of the tank?

or is there some other setup that would serveme better, keeping in mind i dont have a canopy so i cant do any DIY mounting.

also as a side note whats the best wat to introduce a new lighting system without stressing fish and corals

 

rdharris

option 1 - 6 x 54watt T5s - will support SPS corals in your 55 gallon tank IME , whether they will grow as well or colour up as well as the same SPS under halides , I cant say
but they will survive in terms of lighting and they will grow ( lighting being only 1 factor in terms of keeping SPS so if your on top of nutrient exportation and control, have adequate flow and can maintain the key parameters, then with this light you would be fine IME)

Option 2 - 2 x 15O Watt MH with supplemental T5 actinics - will support SPS corals in your 55 - I know of 1 set up on here 90 gallons with 3 x 400 watts of MH lighting over it with a great looking batch of SPS corals

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/180-up-running-downgraded-90-gallon-37609.html

thus my logic deducts that if 3 x 400 watt MH are good over a 90 - then 2 x 150 watt could not be described as to much for a 55

although I do accept some corals might not appreciate it as they are from overhangs or caves etc and dont enjoy bright light
but IME even corals that are commonly considered low light corals can adjust to much more intense lighting if its increased gradually

acclimatisation

if you went from 4 x 54 watt to 6 x 54 watt then I imagine you would have 3 switches
thus you could run 4 lamps normal duration and gradually bring in the additional 2 lamps over a period of 4 weeks - running the 4 lamps for your normal lighting regime and the extra 2 lamps run for 4 hours 1st week, 6 hours next week, then 8 and then 10 etc

or you could run all 6 lamps and raise the lights higher off the water and lower down each week

with the MH option - start it higher than you eventually want it and bring it lower by a couple of inches each week, is the normal method of acclimatising corals etc to a MH upgrade

Steve