Not sure I have the BEST lighting setup.

[SnowManSnow]

Tank size = 24X24X24

Not wide, not long, but it is 2 feet deep. Right now I have a 400w DE pendant over the thing with 150w actinic in my half hood. Thats 550w for a 24 inch deep tank!

While the Tim Taylor side of me loves it... I'm afraid, after watching the tank for around a year, that having this much light may not be the best thing for my tank.

I do have several sps corals in there, but I also have lots of LPS and so forth. The only thing I DON'T have in the tank is some type of leather.

My corals seem to be living, but NOT THRIVING like I would like. A lot of the bright pigmentation has turned pale (not bleached just pale).

So the thing is.. 1 do you feel my current setup is an overkill and 2, would 250w DE MH serve me just as well or better (being quite a bit cheaper and offering more in the realm of 20K lights thus doing away with the 150w of actinic supplimentation).

Opinions?

oh, solaris is out for now too $$ so don't even go there.


B

 

[Charlesr1958]

I personaly would have started out with the 250w bulbs, unless of course I was going to have high light requiring corals two feet down in the tank. If the coral species are placed according to their lighting needs from top down, then the 250 watts are more than sufficient.

Chuck

 

[cindre2000]

I have always felt like you had a bit much light on your tank; however, the Tim Taylor affect was nice; and the ability to grow acro's underneath rocks...

but then again I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to lighting. I would say that 250 is fine if you have acro's down low and I will be using a 175w (w/ a good reflector) when I upgrade to a similar cube.