new tank! to me anyway

Just picked up an oceanic 215gallon reef tank with starphire glass off craigslist for a song.
I am planning on transferring everything from my 125 over in a month or two.
It came with 3 175 mogul mh's and 4 96 watt pc's in the hood i have already placed them on craigslist to help pay for some new lights.
The tank is 29'' deep what do you guys recommend for lights?
I really like the ati powermodules but my budget for lights really cant be over $900 or so.
So i am thinking 3 250w mh's with 2 maybe 4 80watt t5's.
Any suggestions?
I will get some pics up later after i do a little cleaning

 

nice score on the monster tank B Walker 9801 (can I call you 9801 for short in future?)

Im not 100% au fait with how tank capacity relates to size - how long and wide is this tank?

lighting - If I where you I would post the lighting specific question in the lighting section as it would get the attention of more people , focused on lighting

but 3 x 250 watt pendants sound great to me - depending how long and wide it is as each MH are good for 2 sq ft according to many posts I have seen on this site


Steve

 

WOWWWW nice find... really nice..
with it 29 inches deep most are going to recommend bigger than 250w mh...

I think the 250's will be okay.. just probably wont be able to keep much coral on or near the bottom.. also which corals do you plan on keeping, if its low light stuff shouldnt be too bad.

 

Thank you for the replies,the tank dimensions are 72'' long 24'' wide and 29'' depth,I have a mix of lps and sps in my 125 that i will be transferring over.Would 3 250's suffice for a 29'' tank or would 400w be better?I admit i have no experience with halides only t5 and other fluorescent type lighting.I would really like to not run a chiller and i doubt that would be possible with 400's.
Steve 9801 is fine but Bruce works too.

 

Thanks Bruce

check out Dr Fragenstiens thread in the show off you fish tank section

he has a 150 gallon lit with 8 x 80watt T5s and is growing some (OK a lot of) SPS corals
now I am not sure on depth, but as you would probably want SPS in top third anyway
I am not certain you in fact need MH

I would like Dr Fragenstiens opinion on this - so maybe posting in the lighting section would be a good idea for you

using T5 would greatly assist with your desire not to use a chiller

Im also confident others run tanks of your depth with 250s so have a troll through the specs on the show of your fish tank section

Steve

 

Yeah agreed with steve... the 250s will be plenty...like i talked about earlier.. just be sensible about what you put where.. 250's will not reach the bottom of a 29" tank well enough for medium to higher light corals. But if you put your softies, etc down there or something that doesnt need much light.. your good..