MH on 30L

[TheNewGuy]

I've made the decision to light my 30L (dim = 36Lx12Wx16D) with MH instead of T5. What I would like an opinion on is whether I should go with 150W or 250W. When I look at two tanks in the LFS, the 150W looks much darker than the 250W, but I don't know how much of that is due to the bulb being used (in this case, the 250W is 14000K and one 150W is 20000K while the other 150W is 15000K). I would like to be able to keep zoanthids lower in the tank, a clam on the sand bed, and SPS higher in the tank. Would I be able to keep zoanthids in a tank this shallow with 250W MH? The other thing that may be a consideration (in terms of tank temps) is that I'll have a 20g refugium and a separate 20g sump (which I think will have ~10 gallons of water) for a total of ~60 gallons.

 

I really like the look of the 250W, but I'm concerned about heat and that it may be too much for zoanthids. Please let me know what you think.

[nanu-nanu]

2x 150w w/ T5HO support.

[TheNewGuy]

2x 150w w/ T5HO support.

 

While I think that would be ideal, that's a lot of money when it comes time to replace the bulbs. What I've considered doing is getting the 150W initially, and if I wasn't happy with the amount of light then add a couple of T5 lamps.

[herranton]

I don't think that 1 metal halide lamp will work too well on a 36" long tank. At the edges of the tank there will be a significant light loss. If you want one bright lamp, you should look into the 175 Watt 15000K Iwasaki lamps. They have good par numbers.