looking to up grade my 220g lighting, need some ideas please

[ctcoral]

I have a 220 gallong tall which is 72" long 27" tall and 24" wide dont know which way to go 400w mh 250w mh what k what brand pedent or hood? I am growing mainly sps and looking for growth! i dont know if i can get away with 400w mh without a chiller. as of now i have 3 250 mh and 6 96 wat power compact for a total of 1326 wats with a canopy i kinda want to do away with the canopy but anyways what would you all do? thank you, Ben
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx14/jammin333ben/IMAG0007.jpg

[ctcoral]

since this picture i have taken out alot os soft coral and lps and put in more sps

[ReefOne]

I'd go Ushio 10k or XM 10k with all Actinic on the PC's for supplements. Would look sweet i think. You could do 12k/14k for the MH's if you like more blue. I'd stay with 250's. What kind of reflectors do you have? Reflectors can make a big difference, lumenmax would really light the tank. HTH

Ram

[Mr Cob]

Well, if you don't want a canopy then you'll need to do pendants or a light fixture. If you want good growth then go 10k with lots of actinic for supplemental lighting as mentioned by ReefOne.

If you upgrade to 400w you will need a chiller, plus you mentioned going all SPS so the chiller will help you keep stable temps. My tank is 29" deep and I run 2 x 250 w MH. My SPS do fine under 20k (slow growth) but when I ran 10k and 14k I had great growth. I just don't have room to put enough actinic to supplement. my point is, your tank is a couple inches less than mine in depth so you could probably continue with 250w if you wanted. Just lower the kelvin rating.

Good luck.

oh, I love XM bulbs.

...and nice looking tank! I'd love to see some recent shots.

[ctcoral]

thanks, I am Looking to get all new lighting from top to bottom. on one hand I am thinking pendants so I can have really good reflectors but on the other hand a light fixture so I can run 10k bulbs and still have blue lighting as well. but whichever way I go I don't know what fixture or pendent combo I should get

[Europhyllia]

all new? why not this:
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/LED_Lighting/AquaIllumination_LED_Light_Systems/60_inch__5xModule_LED_Light_System_w!_Controller_b y_AquaIllumination

[kkiel02]

I would run 3 lumen bright pendants with either a 12k or 10k with supplements. I would go 250 watt like rob said unless you have a chiller. I had only 2 250 watt 20k reeflux bulbs with lumen bright minis on my 180 and loved it.

[ErikH]

I have 2x250 SE on LumenArc minis and 2x250 DE PFO mini pendants. It's PLENTY. :)

[ctcoral]

which brand of ballast? Icecap, Galaxy, aquamedic, blue wave, vertex?

[alton]

Icecap or CoralVue

[kkiel02]

I use coralvue. They are priced well and I havent had problems with them. They might not be the most efficient but not the worst either.