[CurvBall]

Okay. I'm a little confused about lighting for my tank.

Tank =1220mm(l)x 450mm(w)x500mm(d). The water depth would be roughly 450mm.

I know the rule is to go for 3-6 watts per gallon. I plan on housing SPS, LPS and clams in my tank.
This is what I'm considering: 250w 10000k Metal Halide, 2 x 30w 10000k NO tubes and 2x 30w Actinic tubes. This gives me a total of 370w of lighting. If I'm correct my tank will hold about 55gallons. This set-up gives me just over 6w per gallon.

Good? bad? Your opinions pls. Thanks.
-CurvBall

[Ninong]

Hi CurvBall, welcome to Reefland!

The conventional method of calculating aquarium volume would give you a total volume of 274.5 liters (73 U.S. gallons, 61 Imperial gallons). Your actual water volume would be somewhat less.

The volume of water in your tank is not really all that important in determining the appropriate lighting. Much more important considerations are the depth of the water column and the type of inhabitants you wish to keep.

Your proposed lighting would be an excellent choice with the following limitation: All SPS corals and Tridacnid clams should be placed in the center 600 mm of the tank, leaving the outer 31 mm on each side for lower light soft corals.

If possible, consider using two 250w 10,000K metal halide lamps. This would provide even coverage of the full tank. Also, 40 watt normal output fluorescent lighting (if available) would provide better coverage for your size tank.

Good luck,