MH needed for 5 ft Tall - 750 gallons

In the process of starting up 5' wide x 4' depth x 5' tall...around 750 gallons. I know this is a deep tall tank so I do have concerns with good lighting. It will be FISH only... with a coral insert that goes from bottom all the way to top of tank. So probably almost half of the center of tank will be coral insert. So how much lighting is needed to light the entire 5 feet tank? I want Some M.H. so that tank has that shimmer blue glitter effect. I was thinking about three 400 watt MH - total 1200 watts MH and then possibly another 1000 watt of t5s. Do you think this is enough Lighting???? I am estimating that only 500 gallons of water need to be lighted.....the other 250 gallons of water will be hidden under the coral insert and recirculated with filtering.... Does this sound adequate? Any help is appreciated, as I do not want to have to undo and redo over and over to achieve good lighting.

 

Weird dimensions. Big tank. I wish I could be of help on this one...here's a bump for you.

 

Yes .. out of the ordinary dimensions .. hence, the reason Im seeking lighting advise!!!!

 

sorry?...

 

I am sure someone more MH literate than myself will chime in, but if I remember correctly MH's genreally cover a 2 x 2 sq ft area, so for near full coverage your looking at 4 or 5 in a square or X pattern.

 

why use MH? un-needed heat and electric bill IMO.
if you use led you could get some tight optics so it would light the bottom of the tank.
all you need is it to light the bottom. Par is not a concern if you dont have coral and MH just seems like a waste.

 

agreed. leds will give shimmering effect can be dimmable and saves you on heat power and bulb replacements. fish do not need any special lighting its for your preference. leds offer you optics and vast array of colors to choose from

 

You could go 4 with some darker areas or 6 for full coverage. You could probably get by with 250W since you don't plan on coral. I don't think T5 or LED could penetrate that depth but I don't have much LED experience.

 

THe 400w Metal Halides will work for you. Your not going to be keeping much at the bottom as far as corals go. You'll be fine using that setup. The T-5 aren't going to penetrate as well. Why not stuff 4 400watt halides in there and go with VHO for Actinic Lighting, I believe that would come out much better.

 

I concur. I would recommend 4 400w MH's up there. Get some nice reflectors for them (I am partial to the Lumenarcs myself). They should penetrate that deep and give you complete tank coverage. I don't even think you need T5s or VHOs for supplementation. I would just get 14k 400w bulbs. (Or 20k if you like really blue).