90 gallon lighting

donk18

donk18

AC Members
Oct 6, 2007
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Blacklick, Ohio
i am setting up a 90 gallon this coming week and want to order the lighting. i was thinking of going with two 150 mh pendents that have 2 14 watt t5's on each. i am planning on keeping softies and lps mostly trying to get every variation of frog spawn and hammer i can find and a bunch of zoa's and paly's. maybe some shrooms as well. i don't plan on putting and sps in because i don't like sticks i like the flowing look of lps. will this work. i think it will but just double checking.
 
That should be sufficient for what you want to keep. There is the potential that you'll want something more demanding down the line, so to accommodate that, I suggest 250w. Either that, or something like using the 175w Iwasaki 15000K lamp, which is extremely bright and is comparable to many 250w lamps, but with less energy. This is also something to consider given the height of the standard 90g tank. Just trying to keep your options more open, as most people invariably gravitate to other things at some point in time. Doing it now will save you a lot more money in the long run.

Edit: Ninja'd again, lol. I'm dropping the ball lately.
 
if i went with a 75 then that would be the same foot print and just 4inches lower correct so the 150's would probably be perfect for a 75 then. correct. and that would leave me room for putting higher light requirement animals in there.
 
Should be 6 inches shorter. Again, the 150s will work for either application for the corals you want. It is just that if you end up looking at more demanding corals in the future, it would do you more good to look at the other recommendations to save time, money and frustration. If you know for a fact that you won't want to try out different corals and other photosynthetic organisms that are more demanding, then stick with the 150w. You'll just be more limited as to what you can keep and where you can keep it. You would be able to keep practically anything at the upper levels of the tank, however, the bottom is a different story.
 
I would do it once and get 2 250's. You will get different corals than what you want now. Its better to get the lighting that will support all corals then have to upgrade and spend the money all over again.
 
I have 1 MH over my 100long with some flourescants and I regret it everyday... I'd rather have two 175's and 2-4 T5HO's
 
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