lighting for a 125g

SteveD

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Apr 1, 2004
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Hello,
I currently have a 55g with 220 pc and 80 no lighting. I got my new 125g in yesterday and I will be making my own hood for it. I currently have a few basic corals that do ok with moderate light. I also have a tang, angel chromis, blenny, and plan to get a few more fish for the 125 once its up and running. Some day I may try my hand with clams and maybe sps corals. The sps corals may or may not happen, as I have not doen my homework on them yet. I need to spend some money on lights and I figure I may as well do it once and get metal halide. So my questions as as follows.

Should I plan on using the 220 pc 4 foot fixture in my new canopy?

Do I need 3 hailde bulbs to get adaquate coverage?

what wattage should I get? 175 250?

My gut feeling is to get the 250x 3 kit and build in my 220 pcs for versatility. I am a little worried this may be too much light for some of my exsisting stock and possibly produce too much heat. suggestions?
 
You should figure one MH for every 3 foot section of tank. I have 2 on my 120, and it's very well lit. I'd go with the 250's, with the PC for actinics.

The existing stock will have to be acclimated to the higher lights, and placed accordingly. Some will want to move up to better light in time, just needing a period of acclimation to the new lights, while some corals will prefer to be lower in the tank, if not completely shaded--just depends on the corals needs.
 
MH wattage...

1 for each 2 feet( suspended 8" <5" if you have good circulation in the hood>from water) wattage depends on depth of sand to bulb....150 for 15" or less......175 15-18".......250 20-25" and 400+ for most anything above( I won't go into deeper depths because most aren't welling to pay the price in both tank and accesories beyond a 30+ depth:(
 
I have a five foot 125 with 2-175 metal halides 10 k and 6-55watt compacts (two are actnic). Soft corals grow like weeds. Star poylps and mushroom go crazy. I have a 4 inc Deasa Clam that was two inches about a year ago.
Randy
 
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