How Low Can The Light Go?

I have a 110 Gal tank which is 30" tall. I have lots of wattage per gallon but my question is how deep can this light penetrate? I have 2 x 250W HQI and 4 x 54W T5 HO. I chose 20K for the HQI because I read the higher K penetrates deeper. Am I out to lunch and will I be able to keep any corals on the tank bottom. My goal is to be able to keep SPS, LPS, and Softies. Will these all work with this set up?

 

i was told at least for mh 8'' to 10'' for saftey but i know you can get pretty close with t5's do you have a hood or running it bare and do you have you light hanging or on legs i know one reason they say 8'' to 10'' is because salt creep can make a connection to the light and either kill fish or destroy the light and you have to check if the corals you want will get along and not fight/release any toxins

 

My lights are all about 8" from the water surface. What I was wondering is will the light penetrate to the bottom the 30" depth of water. Sorry, I may have been unclear before.

 

The metal halides should be fine, people with deeper tanks greatly benefit from them. The t5s don't penetrate as deeply, about 18-20". Even if you use 10,000K bulbs, you should be fine. That's what metal halides are designed to do.

 

Yeah, I actually think 10000K are the best par rating at the bottom. Anyways, guitarman has got it, MH are best for anything deeper than 24". Your T5s won't penetrate as far so I'd keep all the sps in the top portion of the tank and the LPS and softies in the lower portion, unless the are high light requiring coral.

 

I was afraid I would need to bump my MH up to 400 Watts which would really suck because I can't return my 250's.

 

Actually, the higher the K rating you go, the less PAR they have. A 10,000K bulb will penetrate deeper than a 20,000K bulb. I would suggest getting 14,000K bulbs and have your corals perched on rocks at least midway up your tank. 500W of MH in a 110G tank is good quality lighting, but lift the corals up a bit to be on the safe side.