Lighting in a 72" Canopy 4Xhalides

I should be receiving my canopy for my 125 gallon this week and I was wondering if this is enough lights to keep whatever corals I want. I have 3X175 Watt MH(2 10K's & 1 20K) and I just got a 250watt PFO halide(I need to replace the bulb) with 2x22watt compact supplements built into it. So 4 Metal Halides all together, and I know that they should be mounted perpindicular with the tank with spider reflectors on the 175's. Please give me recommendations or opinions on how to set this up the best and also what Kelvin bulb I should get for the 250? Thanks

 

Hey Fitchguy. Welcome to 3reef!!!
What are the dimensions of your tank? This will help in laying out the lights.
Kelvin temps of the halides are more of a matter of taste. IMO you can have 2 different manufacturer's bulbs with the same Kelvin rating look totally different to your eyes . I know that makes things a bit more complicated but for the most part a 10000K bulb is supposed to be a crisp white light and a 20,000K bulb is much bluer to the eyes. If you know the name brand of the bulb I can probably refer you to a couple of web pages that have color comparison pic's between the bulbs. I personally would generalize the kelvin rating and pick the bulb based on light intensity (PAR or PPFD) and the type of corals I am planning to keep in the aquarium.

Generally speaking you would use one metal halide for every two feet of length and two feet of width. Then the wattage or PAR values of the bulbs would be based on the depth of the tank and the type of coral you want to keep.

Enjoy,
Jim

 

It is a 72" long 125 Gallon tank and I want a setup where I can put any kinds of corals that I want. I was thinking of mixing the different bulbs kelvin values and see how that looks.