Metal halide question

I had a 75 gal. sw and my husband bought me a 150 gal for xmas, I am wondering about the lights I have the T5 (used on old tank) but I am interested in the metal halide, I have some corals and 4 fish for over a year now, but I want alot more I would also like to be able to keep clams but all the pet stores says you have to have metal halide or they die. What size do I need? Should I keep my T5 lights also.

 

Hello and Welcome to 3reef,

Clams do fine under T5, make sure you routinely changes bulbs. Metal halide are great but not needed at all to keep clams.

Size of fixture and how many bulbs as well as what watt depends on the depth of the tank and the measurements.

Try looking at some of the fixtures on Marinedepot.com, you would probably get them cheaper there as well.

 

My tank is the deep one 4 foot long about 2 foot wide about 3 feet deep,

 

If your interested in growing some of the harder sps then yes I like metal halide. I love the shimmer, the growth and color of the corals. They do run a lot hotter though.

For that depth you are going to need at least 2 250watt bulbs and place sps at levels higher in the tank on the liverock.

There are a lot of newer fixtures that combine T5, metal halide and night leds.

 

Is that 36" tall?? That is very deep. Even with 250W halides, you will still need to keep SPS and most clams in the upper half of the tank.

If you are doing a SPS dominate and clams, you might consider a pair of 400W with lumenbright reflectors. That combination with good bulbs would allow SPS at all depths.

 

I agree... you will NEED to have at least 250w bulbs, an I very strongly recommend with nice reflectors like lumenbrite or lumenmax. If you want to have all sps in a 3 foot deep though, the best choice would be 400w.