Is my coral life fixture good enough?

Ok I have on my 90 gal reef with a 30 long refigium the coral life all in one HQI de 150x2 coral life 14k bulbs. 50/50 PC's 2x54 and LED moon lights. I'm wondering if this is substantial enough amount of lighting. I have some zoo's ,galexia, frog spawn, star polyps, leathers, and another sps I can remember the name of. any tips would be great....

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That is about 4 watts per gallon. I definetly think that a healthy reef needs at least 3 watts per gallon. I have about 7 watts per gallon and it has been great! If you have the money i would give it an upgrade but if you don't, your corals in your tank will be just fine! IMO

 

Someone will say PAR soon...

 

Thanks for the quick reply guys....I've been wanting to do a led DIY but time constriants n such deter. Would two 400 Watt MH be over kill? I'm sure I could sell this light to help fund the upgrade or let the wife put it on her 55 planted? Would love any advise I could get. Ill post some pics as soon as I can.....oh and what's PAR?

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haha guess ill be "that guy"

PAR- photosynthetically active radiation --> big fancy phrase that means the wavelengths of light that can be used in photosynthesis.

right now, you are getting barely enough par for your tank. it will keep softies, lps and some of the easy sps... however the 150w bulbs just dont have the intensity to carry the photons deep enough into the water.

is two 400w too much? nope, its perfectly fine... you can do two 250w and still be happy with almost every single sps out there. Personally, i would go with the 400 though because they have so much more power and you can get the light to where you need it... but then again i am an overly excessive lighting guy.

 

thanks a crap ton dingo. I was worried that my light was sub par. I payed 400 for it, i hope that was not too much. Well i was planing on building a new canopy any way with some fans so please if you can point me in the right direction to start shoping for 400 watt MH's balasts and reflectors please do!

thanks again guys

 

ok dingo here is what i have been looking at, please feel free to tell me if its junk and too look else where. Buy 400 Watt Dual Pulse Start Metal Halide Aquarium Lighting Here! .
im not pleased that my LFS i purchesed my coral life lighting at informed me that it was enough lighting to grow what ever i wanted ? Oh well ....im looking forward to my new project.

Dave

 

It's not that you can't, but you will need to place more light demanding corals much more carefully. You may be restricted to placing sps right under the light.

 

ok well i can live with that for a bit. at least until i find a good deal on the lights i want.

 

If you can go with program start ballasts as opposed to pulse start. The pulse start are harder on bulb life.