lighting advice

[livingreef2004]

hey everybody i have a couple lighting questions.

first off i have a 90 gallon oceanic rr with 320 watts of no flourescent lighting witch looks great and seems to be doing well for the corals but still not seeing much growth
so i am upgrading once more to halides i like the look of the 20k xm bulbs and i think i will try the 250 watt


well my question is will this be too much light for softies since thats what i like the most i was thinking of keeping 4 no actintics with them can anyone suggest something better or let me know if that is not the right setup for my corals

im just in need of some input thanks


pics of my tank are in my gallery

 

[Hooked]

checked out your gallery--great looking tank.

I have 2 - 250w MH and 2 - 110w VHO over my 90 and it's sps. I think what your proposing is overkill for softies.

I'm not sure I've seen 20k bulbs on a softie tank? I'm not an expert on softies by any means, so hopefully someone who is will chime in here.

 

[Woodstock]

Originally posted by livingreef2004
.....so i am upgrading once more to halides i like the look of the 20k xm bulbs and i think i will try the 250 watt


well my question is will this be too much light for softies since thats what i like the most i was thinking of keeping 4 no actintics with them can anyone suggest something better or let me know if that is not the right setup for my corals

Too much light? No, not at all. You will see a large growth spurt when you upgrade to MH and if you ever decide to keep clams or SPS, you will be able to. You may want to switch out the 4 no from actinics to whites unless you really like BLUE COLOR a lot!!!

 

[livingreef2004]

woodstock since you have the same setup what do you recomend for the distance from the water level to the lights

in the canopy i have now the max height i can achieve is about 8 inch's . from what i have read that is too close would 12 inchs be enough?

thanks for the quick replies woodstock and hooked
heres an updated tank pic as well

 

[wooddood]

i have a 120 gal tank and also run 2 250watt 10k xm's and my halides are only 6inches above the water surface so i dont think that will be a big concern for you. although i do have mainly sps i also have some softies also and have never seen any ill effects to my softies with my lights that close to the water. i also run 4 55watt 03 actinics as supplemental lighting and notice no blue effect at all unless the actinics are on by them selves. hope this helps ya some. good luck to you. heres a pic of my light setup.

dave.

 

[Woodstock]

Nice tank Livingreef!! My lights are about 5-6" from the water surface. I have a Hamilton plug-n-play fixture that I place directly on top of the tank. I love it. Here is a picture of it:

 

[Travelin Reef]

L.R.

Keep in mind you can also adjust the location higher or lower of your corals if you feel you need to. Keep the extra heat in mind -
this may actually be your most pressing obstacle if you upgrade

 

[Woodstock]

Originally posted by Travelin Reef
.........Keep the extra heat in mind -
this may actually be your most pressing obstacle if you upgrade

VERY true. I had to add a sump fan to keep the temp down to 80-82. The bulbs plus the hot magnetic ballast (HOT) which is under my tank really added a lot of heat to the tank.

 

[livingreef2004]

i plan on locating the ballast behind the tank on a shelf and i have a fan blowing in on my canopy now. i might have to put one in the sump if i have heat issues thanks all im ordering them friday and i will post pics as soon as there in