Introduction & question

[Chopper Greg]

Allow me to introduce myself-

My name is Greg, and while I do not currently have a reef, I spent several years working in a fish shop, assisting the owner with tank maintenance and customers for both saltwater and freshwater.

I recently read Delbeek's and Sprung's 'The Reef Aquarium - Science, Art, and Technology ', and reading over some recent posts about lighting, in this and other forums, I am left wondering if anyone agrees with the comments in the book, that perhaps many reef aquariums may have to much light?

 

[Len]

:welcome:

Good topic of discussion! I think that on average, this may be true. But I also think that a lot of people are now (or at least were in the recent past) going for high energy tanks (e.g. reef crest SPS tanks) that required strong lighting. I know a lot of Europeans (and some Asians) use 150W and 250W halides more frequently then 400W, and they do it with great success ... even for heavy SPS tanks. I've personally stepped down from 400W to 250W halides.

 

[Chopper Greg]

My personal thoughts ( with my dream tank ) are extending to having several MH in the 150-250W range*, with them coming on sequentially in 30 min intervals*, and then after being on for 6-7 hrs* turning off in the same sequence - individually they are not going to put out allot of light, but together they would contribute quite a bit, but the total amount of light would also vary over the course of the day, with the most intense period being near tank noon time.

* exact number, wattage, and timing would be based on tank total length and depth.

 

[Anonymous]

I've really never kept any tank with over 250w MH, so I'm probably not the right one to discuss this but I'll say

 

[kevindub]

I was in Germany and saw a SPS tank lit by 2 150w halides and it was doing really well. Much better than mine actually :lol:

 

[leftovers]

My tank at its prime had 150MHs and 6' VHO's and i had every type of sps possible going like crazy.

That's not to say the with 250's or 400's that it couldn't be better or equally successful but i believe you can have a very very successful tank with milder lights than many folks believe.

I do believe that tank height should be the determining factor of lighting solution.

 

[Posh]

Welcome!

I run 150w DE on my 120 with good success. I would say probably 250s may enable a bit lower placement of some SPS.. but overall it has worked well for me.

 

[Chopper Greg]

Thanks the welcome.

I do believe that tank height should be the determining factor of lighting solution.

Leftovers,

Are you sure about that?

It seams to me that actual average water depth ( or at least average maximum water depth ), should be more of a determining factor, rather than tank depth alone - granted using the total tank depth does provide for some fudge factor, but if you have a tank 48 inches deep but 6 inches of it is of sand and you're leaving an additional 6 inches for variation due to wave generation and flushing of a surge tank, you're only looking at around 36 inches of water to attenuate the light intensity - it doesn't make sense ( at least to me ), to worry about trying to provide light to the areas below the top of the sand or above the actual water line.

Am I wrong?