270 gallon lighting question

[patbran003]

I have a 270 gallon saltwater reef tank. The dimensions are 72" wide x 36" deep x 24" tall. It has a canopy on it and right now I am running three 175 watt 14000k metal halide lights and two 6' vho blue fluorescent lights. I have hammer coral, bubble coral, frogspawn, toadstools and various other corals as well as fish. I am wondering if this lighting is sufficient, not enough or too much? Everything seems to be doing great but I am wondering if this is the best economical lighting for this setup. Can I go with some different lighting to save a little money on the power bill? I am new to all of this and just would like a little feedback from some of you that have been in this longer than I have. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. I am also running a chiller on this tank to keep the water cooler than the lights heat it up to. I am just trying to make my tank economical but at the same time take great care in keeping the stock I have in there happy. Thanks again for your feedback. Patrick

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

You could make the switch to LED. The upfront cost will be a lot, but you would not have to buy new bulbs and the chiller would not be needed.

 

[KSzegi]

I would say your current light is sufficient for what you have and even enough for some well placed sps if you wanted. Chances are that if you switched to T5's, LED's or a combination of them you wouldn't have to run your chiller anymore - or at least not due to the lights; I don't know what the ambient temp is where your tank is!!


:welcome:

 

[kmaintl]

I would say your current light is sufficient for what you have and even enough for some well placed sps if you wanted. Chances are that if you switched to T5's, LED's or a combination of them you wouldn't have to run your chiller anymore - or at least not due to the lights; I don't know what the ambient temp is where your tank is!!


:welcome:

+1 you're ok for what you're keeping