Is 250watts in a 30 gal to much?

[flavavision]

Is 250watts in a 30 gal to much for SPS? What can I keep under that light?

[flavavision]

Joshua, is 250 watts to much? How much water loss do you have? How offen you change the blubs? What are you running on the 30 cube? Filters and lighting? I am now really getting into reefing. I have had my tank for 10 months now and trying to imporve.

[scuba_steveo]

Well there you have it David, I stand corrected, a 250 is not too much over a 30. I thought it would limit you to only high light corals.

[GaryP]

250 watts is roughly 8 watts/gal. Almost perfect for SPS. I'm running 6.5 watts/gal. in my SPS tank. I wish I had more actinic. The only problem with a one bulb system is getting the proper mix of spectrum to achieve growth while still being pleasing to the eye. I would guess that's why Joshua is looking at adding PC's to his cube.

Gary

[flavavision]

Josh, How long has the 30 been setup, it is beautiful.

[TAXMAN]

I have a 250 MH on my 40 tall and it is working great. I think it could use another one but I am going to leave it this way. It evaps about 1/2 gal or so each day.vI am thinking of putting my spare 250 mh on my 10g. I know a 150 is better on the 10 but I'll mount it a little higher which should cut down on evaperation too.

Johnny

[GaryP]

The only problem I could see with having that much light in a Nano is that some mushrooms won't like that much light. Not all of them. I know my purple shrooms bleached when I moved them into direct light. They were fine after they moved back into some nooks and crannies. When I think of a nano I usually think of soft corals like shrooms.

Gary

[JimD]

If I put a 100 watt light bulb over a one gallon tank, do I have 100 watts per gallon? Can I safely keep SPS in there??? I dont like using watts per gallon as a measurement for aquarium lighting. I prefer watts per ammount of surface area to be lit, along with depth of tank and intended inhabitants. 250 watts would be overkill for a fish only tank, just about right for a mixed reef say 3' wide and 24" deep, but not enough for a full blown SPS system as the intensity would taper off at the ends. So in my opinion, if the intent is a SPS dominated tank, a 250 watt 10K/14K system would be ideal for a 30 gallon tank depending on width and making sure the reflector is up to "par".

[GaryP]

Jim,

I agree with you but for a rough estimation watts/gal. can be useful. Distance from the surface is another variable. Intensity decreases by the dquare of distance. So, if you double the distance of the bulb from surface of the water, you don't decrease intensity by 1/2, but by 1/4. If seen a few tanks where the bulbs were WAY to far from the surface.

[TexasState]

It's not a problem if you can keep your small tank cooled.

[ClamFan]

I have a 175 mh over my 20 gal and everthing is doing real good. I do evaporate 1.5 gal a day, and my 10 gal, with an 96 watt aqualight evaps a 20 oz. glass of water, but that depends on how far from the surface of the water. Mine is about 20" above the water with makeshoft aluminum foil for reflection.

If you dont mind the evap and have a topoff you should be ok.