Quote:
Originally posted by Geoff
depending on the K bulbs you pick actinic supplimentation may be needed to get the colour you like.
G~
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Hey Geoff - you spell "Colour" the same way I do! What's up with that?
Lighting has to be THE most controversial/confusing part of this hobby. Ask 6 people get 9 opinions. You can keep on asking and getting different answers ad infinitum, because it seems that every week there is a new type of lighting, new colour temp of bulb, new brand of bulb, new brand of ballast, and each one is bigger, badder, better than the last....
Chris, decide just what sorts of animals you wish to keep and go from there. IE: No sense in getting a 400 w setup if you plan to keep all
soft corals.
IMO it becomes a peeing contest among some - "Oh yeah, well *that* is not enough, I have the 'Binford model' ::: insert Tim Allen Grunt::::" When I researched my own lighting upgrade at home 3+ years ago, I got bombarded with the same types of responses - at that time, for my tank (55) and for my budget (poverty), PC lighting was the right choice, and I have no regrets - it worked very well for that tank and what I kept in it. You need to base your choice on what you want to keep, heating issues, bugetary issues, and etc. Not what "everybody else" has or wants.
Any of the options you and I have talked about, will let you keep most of the organisms available in the trade today. The setup you started with would have been fine for anything except perhaps the more finicky SPS and all but a few hardy clams, despite some opinions I've seen to the contrary. I've got 175s on my 120, which is the same depth and height as your tank, in hindsight I might have chosen 250s if I were doing it again, but everything in my tank is thriving and growing, so it is *enough* for what I've chosen to keep... 250s would probably have had me need a chiller, so really I think 175s were the best choice for that tank. I keep my couple of SPS high up in that tank, and I don't keep clams in it.
Make the decision easier on yourself - decide what you want to see living in your tank, and base your decision from that.
HTH
Jenn
