400watt on 55gal?

[oimate84]

I was wanting to upgrade my halides from a dual 175watt to gettin a dual 400 watt setup. Would this be overkill for a 55gal? With heat issues, I have 2 fans in the hood that keep water temp with dual 175's to around 78degrees. How much more temperature change could I expect from the 400watts...If anybody has this type setup let me know how its doing for you...thanks

 

[mountainbiker619]

well..I would think it would be like running 4-175's

 

[oimate84]

Oh yea, forgot to mention the intentions for this...its too keep more acroporas and montiporas and even add a clam or 2....I havent had success keeping brilliant sps colors with my current setup..

 

[reefsnreptiles1]

Have you considered dual 250's? They would penetrate a few inches deeper than your 175's but wouldn't be such a drastic change temp/acclimation wise. I think you would be happy with them.

 

[Texas2Turkey]

Oimate84 -

If every Joule of energy produced by upgrade entered the tank. (350 watts to 800watts heating 190 liters of saltwater) And there was no additional evaporation or other means of cooling. And you ran the bulbs for a total of 8 hours a day -- the maximum change in temp. would be 17.45C degrees. Granted not nearly all that energy has been or will be entering your tank..... but it gives you the absolute maximum change in temp.

I'm very surprised you've had problems keeping high light animals with that lighting configuration, especially if you kept them higher up in the tank. What type of bulbs are they, color spectrum, and age. and how long has your system been up and running?

 

[oimate84]

Thanks for the info. They are Hamilton and Aqualine 10k bulbs. Only been used for around 4 months and my tanks around 3 years old. I might try the 250 watt, but every tank ive seen with 400 watt 20k radiums just kicks ass...Maybe ill try only 1 400 watt and see how that works out..

 

[ChumbawambaMan]

i have a single 400w halide over my 50 gallon tank. it has a 20k bulb. i have over 10 species of SPS coral frags/colonies and 3 croceas, 2 maximas and a squamosa. i have a bubble tip anemone and a heteractis magnifica anemone. with one 400w halide positioned in the center of the tank, everything is thriving and growing well. most of the corals are exhibiting wonderful colors and through out the tank i feel enough light is being distributed, as i have some some croceas off to the very far side of the tank.
as far as temperature, it maintains at 80. very rarely fluctuating more than a single degree throughout the day and night.
evaporation is roughly 5 gallons or so every two days.

 

[Sanfernando]

When I switched to 2 400 watt halides on my 90 the change in temp only increased by about 1 degree, but I keep my tank in the basement where its cooler.

 

[0db]

I only run a single 400W (have used 6500 and 10000K bulbs) on my 55G and I had thriving SPS colonies (they're dead now after getting some nasty disease) and have kept a very happy t. maxima for about 18 months now. I tried to keep the light-lovers near the center of the tank (at least keep them out of the far 6-8" where it gets a little dimmer) and I think my results have been excellent. The tank is WELL illuminated. I know a 20k may produce a little less intenisty, but I still think with a decent reflector, a single 400W is an excellent choice for a 4' tank, particularly if you use supplemental fluorescents in any way.

 

[Bill2]

Sanjay Joshi is offering a lighting course with MACO later in the summer. All your questions and then some will be answered there. You can go to www.reefs.org/maco/index.php for more info.

 

[Anonymous]

I was wanting to upgrade my halides from a dual 175watt to gettin a dual 400 watt setup. Would this be overkill for a 55gal? With heat issues, I have 2 fans in the hood that keep water temp with dual 175's to around 78degrees. How much more temperature change could I expect from the 400watts...If anybody has this type setup let me know how its doing for you...thanks

i run with success a 400 Watt HQI 10K over a 60G (32*24*22), packed with SPS.

cooling and keeping the temps in check is achieved with a 6' fan, set on a timer, blowing across the water surface.
with higher summer temps the fan is running as long as the HQI do.
that's 'bout 12 hours a day. no AC in the room.
the fan is set on/off @ night time to increase evaporation.

kept my temps 100% stable @ 28C over last summer without any side effect for the fish and coral population.

Esmar