lighting help please

hey fishyness, imo 2 400w would be to much for that. if not to much just a don't need that much. i run 2 250 watt halides in lumenmax's and it puts off enough light to grow acros at the bottom of my 120gal (same dems.)
i run 2x 250watt radiums, 2x 54w ati b+, 2x 39watt uvl super actinic, and a reefbrite led bar = plenty of light. honestly i haven't run my halides for the last 3 months and noticed no slowdown in growth. some of my lower light lovers actually grew alot quicker. on any tank deeper than 30" i would do 400w. otherwise i think your just causing heat and cost issues for no reason. hope this helps

 

I'm going to have to agree with joe on this one 100%

 

2-Ecoxotic 100 watt cannons

 

Holy Crap!  Those are cool!  I would love to try those!

 

I agree with Joe and Bill. I used to run 2 x 400w XM 20k SE over my 120 for a long time. A few months back, I switched to 2 x 250w Phoenix DE and have not seen any kind of a decrease in growth. I run then in conjunction to a pair of UVL 48" VHO SuperActnics which I run for 3 hours before and after my 7 hour MH light cycle. I wish I had a PAR meter and had the ability to measure the difference in PAR between the 400s and the 250s, but the anecdotal evidence indicates that the 250s have been just as good on my tank.

That being said, if you want to buy a pair if 400w XM 20k SE bulbs with about 7 months of use on them, a pair of Limenarc III Mini Mogul Base reflectors in decent shape, and a pair of 400 watt IceCap ballasts, I'll make you a great deal...

--AJ