Do you think this is overkill?

Marco · 07-09-2002, 07:27 AM

I will be getting a 180 soon that only has 4x96w pc's and 2x175w MH. I am thinking of adding 3x250w MH to this current setup do you folks think this is overkill? I will be taking all my SPS and clams from my 30gal and plan on the 180 to be a mix of SPS, LPS, and Softies. I plan to put the PC's on the outside then the MH like this: 250-175-250-175-250 along the length. The 250s will be 65K Iwasakis and the 175 will be 10K Ushios. By the way this tank does have a chiller, and I will have 4 4" fans in the canopy.

Alice · 07-09-2002, 09:53 AM

Sounds fine to me; you'll need the other 2 MH to cover that much area. Congrats on the new tank

Alice

Brooke · 07-09-2002, 09:54 AM

It might come down to room in the hood.

A 180 is only 6' right.. we have 3 250's in our 6' hood with 4 vho bulbs and it's packed! If you have room for all 5 of the MH then go for it. You may find that you will not even need the PC's. Their impact would probably be nearly zip with all that MH.

Sounds bright and hot! We have 3 fans in our hood, FWIW. Remember the heat factor.

Good luck-
Brooke

Alice · 07-09-2002, 10:00 AM

I need to make a cheat sheet on tank footprints, I never can remember. I think I could squeeze 5 in my 6' hood, it would be tight though. If you're running a chiller and fans you'll be ok on heat although you may even want to think about venting the hood to an outside wall or through the ceiling. Another project!

Marco · 07-10-2002, 07:22 AM

Thanks for the replys ladies.

Doug1 · 07-10-2002, 07:38 AM

Hey Marco, why not go 175,250,250,250,175
And seperate timers on each light, that way you can set the start times to stagger so they arent all coming on at the same time plus time them so that the light slowly moves across the tank, simulating the suns path over the coarse af the day