how many watts of light would i need for 125 gallon tank....right now all i have is green star polyops zenia, a open brain coral, and a few other soft corals...the tank measures 48 long were most 125 are 6ft...mines a deep 125 gallon...any suggestions on how much... i currently have a t5 216wt fixture and 2 175wt halide fixtures
how many watts of lights would i need for a 125 tank
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That is a hot or loaded question..With the organisms that you have you should be alright,depending on where they are placed,But what you should consider is what do you want in the future,..If you are going to keep beginner corals or polyps they are more forgiving than others,and can adapt more easily than others to lower light levels..some will say change out to higher watt metal halides,which if you are you could keep more light loving corals,,and they would be right, the light would penetrate the water deeper down in the tank and you could have more variety of corals,but you have to remember that the heat of the bulbs if not vented away from the tank could raise the temperature of the water and hurt what you are trying to keep,which would mean using a chiller..which would be more money or expence,Now you have to remember that you are going to have to change your bulbs out at regular intervals,to keep up the proper intencity and spectral output of the bulbs..What a lot of people will say is bang for the buck ,They would use LEDs,reason being they last longer ,don`t use as much electricity,their light penetrates the depth of the aquarium easier,they run a lot cooler..and there are a few more reasons........What it boils down to is What are you going to have,And what in the long run are you willing to spend.....Does that make since
I think the light you have is just fine to grow anything you would like. I have consistently seen deeper tanks with less light grow SPS even at the bottom. Having near perfect water parameters will still be the most important aspect of having a successful tank. I recommend Iwasaki bulbs for your MH ficture and ATI bulbs for your T5's. With good reflectors for your MH's Iwasaki bulbs will do great. They put out as much or more PAR then most 250 w bulbs. Iwasaki's also come in 14K color which looks a lot more like 18k ( a very nice blue ). Then you can choose which color of ATI T5's you'd like to dial in the color you're looking for.
Jim
Jim
Pulsing xenia is one of those weird corals that when they're happy they spread like wild fire and when they're not they just die off. I've seen xenia in many tanks with much higher wattage of lights with no problems (Tom had 250w MH's burning over a shallower tank then yours and his xenia was taking over). As far as light goes, I think you're fine.
all my perimeters are good calcium 380, kh 11, magnesium 1250, zero nitrites, nitrates,ammonia, beats me...im very new at this...just asking lots of questions....i thank you guys for all the responses....jim i got my gfo media and reactor in and its up and running for 3 days now...
+1. I've never been able to grow xenia.
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I use to have a few colonies of xenia that took over my 75 and actually started climbing up the back glass. They were under PC/MH lighting. I fed them coral frenzy mixed with a little water by spot feeding them using a plastic pipette/dropper and blowing it right at them. I did the same thing for my zoas and they loved it as well.
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