No Hard Coral, 175 or 250 MH?

jab502 · 03-23-2006, 07:20 PM

Yesterday a few members of this forum gave me some advice about my new tank and said I should probably use 4X250 MH. The tank is going to be a 72"X24"X24". The guy helping me at the LFS said the 250W are overkill and that they could even damage some of the soft corals at the top of the tank. He said I only need the 175W. I have no intention of keeping hard corals. Which lights do I really need?

wharyat · 03-23-2006, 07:23 PM

With no intention to keep hard corals, you'll be fine with 175's (3 instead of 4 tho). You could even get by with an array of 6' vhos, and if you ever plunge into SPS/LPS then you already have your actinic supplementation equipment.

Welcome to TRT!!

Tim224DT · 03-23-2006, 07:25 PM

Just softies i would say you could get away with the VHO bulbs.

Tim

110galreef · 03-23-2006, 08:38 PM

Three 175 MH's are plenty.

Or all VHO's as well.

Casey · 03-23-2006, 08:57 PM

Vhos or 3 175s