New reefer lighting question.

Okay I know there are a million questions about this everywhere, but I want to ask mine. I am setting up a new tank from scratch.

I have a 30 gallon finnex M tank. 24" across x 18" high (not sure about the width with the dividers). I plan on having a shallow sand bed, probably 2" at most. Its more for asthetics.

I have a Outer Orbit 250w MQI lighting setup. There is also 4 T5's with this setup and the most awesomest blue and white lunar lights. Total wattage is 355. I got this from a friend of a friend for a good price (cheaper than a good PC setup).

I plan on keeping SPS in this tank at some point in the future, which is another reason I wanted the 250w HQI.

What are your thoughts on using this light for soft corals and zoa's to begin with? From what I have read it is way to powerful, so I am probably going to be using some diffuser to cut back the MH output and putting some distance between it and the tank. Will this work good for SPS in the future?

Any other suggestions for using this setup with the softies and zoa's?

Edit: Light is not a pendant. It is a complete set. You can look it up, but to describe it. HQI is in the middle with 2 T5's on the front and back. One T5 on each side is blue and one is white. There are 12 lunar lights, 6 blue and 6 white. They run side to side, 3 of each on each side of the HQI I believe. It has leg stands and a hanging contraption. It is 24 inches across.

 

I'd use just the MH's and get rid of T5's. 355w is way over kill, that's over 10w/gal. those MH's will work good for anything just watch temp. and keep a distance to prevent bleaching.

just use one or the other, maybe the T5's will work better for you, who knows?
trial and error, see how corals respond. cause 105w isn't bad for a 30 gal either.

 

Yeah I have been reading a lot of stuff on lighting and there is so much information and a lot is in different directions.

My plan at the moment is to kick on the PC's 1 to 2 hours before and after the MH kicks on. This will give a precursor to the full bright light.

But I am with you on the whole trial and error thing. It seems everything is subjective to whatever you have and there is no one answer.

 

Go for it. I would put alot of distance between the lights and the tank. is this a pendante??? How wide is the fixture???

 

my bad I just saw the dimensions