light upgrade ?

[vair]

I currently have a Aquaspacelight with 3 150W MH bulbs with 4 24w acttinics. Was considering upgrading to the same model with 250W MH with the same actinics.

My question… should I go with 400W bulbs instead of 250W and never upgrade again? Or is 3 250W bulbs plenty of light? Is there any disadvantage besides the heat from a 400W? Are multiple 400W bulbs over kill or the way to go?

My current tank is a 110gal, I’m going to be upgrading to 250gal tank in the future. It is currently a reef tank with fish and lots of SPS and some LPS corals and a few softies as well.

Thanks
Dave

 

[danmhippo]

250G is deeper, you will be needing the 400W, otherwise, 250 is enough for a typical 150 Gal Tank.

 

[danmhippo]

If you use 20,000K bulb, you can also skip the actinic supplement too.

 

[vair]

So can I assume that a 250 is about as good as a 400 and the major difference is the stronger wattage reaches lower depths? Which would mean I can place hard corals at lower portions of the tank and still get bright colors from the corals?

dave

 

[vair]

So people pipe up, should I go 250 or 400??

thanks for the help
dave

 

[Anonymous]

Go for the 400s and suspend them a little higher until you get the larger tank.