aquarium lighting question

[mvp]

im starting a soon to be 55 gallon reef aquarium. i found this 48 inch metal halide hood, and its 500w with LEDS. it has 2 halides both 250w each, and will be mounted with brackets about 3-5 inches above the tank. it says it has a built in fan and splash glass. so would 500w be too much for a 55 gallon aquarium, its about 9 watts per gallon. also would it overheat my aquarium?

[TYoung]

Heating your tank would not be an issue as long as you had a fan or two blowing the heat away from the water. As far as too much light goes I am guessing that you would bleach out many of the corals closer to the surface of the tank with that many watts. You could fix this by hanging the MH a little higher above the tank or you could switch from 250w bulbs to 150w bulbs. It all depends on what types of corals you are wanting to keep in your reef and where you place them.

Check this out.

36in Metal Halide HQI System Advance Plus

[rocking]

just take them to 175w amd u are right on the money it give u 8.1 on ur w ratting

[reefhead]

Welcome to reefland!


It all depends how you introduce the corals. Start everything at the bottom and pay attention to the light cycle (duration lights are on) the corals are coming from.

Watts per gallon is a joke, ignore it.

Sounds like you got a nice light, I have a single 250 on my 14 gallon.

You can easily keep sps corals with this light.