250w vs 400w

wakeboardgeek · Apr 26, 2011

I'm very cautious of power usage on my tank and the following two scenarios differ by a few cents per month. What would you choose for a SPS dominated tank (T5 and LED supplementation), 24" deep.

250w on for 6 hours
400w on for 4 hours

joker295 · Apr 26, 2011

6 hours bc i like to look at my tank !

OMG Corals · Apr 26, 2011

24" deep = 400w IMO. I use 3 400w on my 180 supplemented with t5. I run them 7 hrs. Great growth and color.

JackoChang · Apr 27, 2011

Sell them both and get LEDs. Seriously though, I'd go with the 250's. I used to have 400's on my 120 (24" deep) and bleached lots of LPS on the sand bed, I had SPS in the middle and near the top and they bleached. Switched to 250w MH equivalent LEDs and color came back.

Acronymous · Apr 28, 2011

250w is sufficient for a 24" sps dominated tank.

dakotasreef · Apr 28, 2011

Your choice of reflector can also make a bog difference. If you are going to have softies and lps on the bottom I say go 250. If you choose a good reflector you could do 250 in a sps tank. I run 400's in a 24" tank with radiums and love the growth and color. The only downside is viewing times. My lights are only on for 6 hours.

Paul_N · Apr 28, 2011

I would go with 250w for 6 hours and run supplemental for 8 to 10 hours. If you have the right reflectors, there is no need for 400w IMO. I have 250w with lumenbright reflectors that will go on a 220 that is 30" high.

wakeboardgeek · Apr 28, 2011

Paul_PSU said:
I would go with 250w for 6 hours and run supplemental for 8 to 10 hours. If you have the right reflectors, there is no need for 400w IMO. I have 250w with lumenbright reflectors that will go on a 220 that is 30" high.

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm using lumenbright minis right now with 250w so the reflectors would stay the same.

hybridazn · Apr 28, 2011

airwaybill said:
24" deep = 400w IMO. I use 3 400w on my 180 supplemented with t5. I run them 7 hrs. Great growth and color.

How far do u have them mounted off the surface of the water?

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Paul_N · Apr 28, 2011

wakeboardgeek said:
I guess I should have mentioned that I'm using lumenbright minis right now with 250w so the reflectors would stay the same.

I am running them over my temp setup which is a 110 gallon rubbermade and I have the bulbs 24" off the surface of the water. my coral and clams are anywhere from 28" to 40" below the bulbs.

iani · Apr 28, 2011

Which bulbs are you planning on running (and on what kind of ballasts)? That will make a big difference.

wakeboardgeek · Apr 28, 2011

Currently they are bulbs are about 20" off the water.

Really like the Radium 20K and I have icecap ballasts.

iani · Apr 28, 2011

Ok so to run the 250w 20k radiums properly you need magnetic HQI ballast or those newish selectable e-ballasts. You typically want to run the 250w radiums @ ~300 watts. For the 400w radiums you normally want to run then as close to about 360 watts. For the 400w radiums you want to run them on normal electronic ballasts (ie ice caps). I've heard the par difference from the 250w hqi and the 400w electronics is minimal. I run 3 250w HQI ballast on radiums on my 72x30x24" tank.