Is this enough light?

[hounddog01]

I have just purchased an acrylic 180 gallon tank. It only has 2 openings. I am going to build the rock structures to go directly under these two openings. This is where all the corals will go. I may have a rock or two in between for low light corals.

To the point I currently have 2 reef optix 3 reflectors on my 90 They do a great job and I want to put them over the 180 right over the rock structures. I think it should be enough but would like some other opinions.

Also I have 4x 4 foot VHO's that I plan on putting in the front and back of the halides. I plan on the overlap being in the middle of the tank to add a little extra light incase there would be a shadow from the halides.

Any oppinions or comments are welcome.

Thank You.



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[mr_X]

what are you going to keep in this tank?
what wattage halides are in those reflectors? i really think you need to go with 1 halide every 2 feet of tank.
can you retro a few t-5s front and back for extra light?
i look after the tank at the local gym and it's similar, in that it has a single center brace. i am using two 150 watt halides towards the center of the tank and two 175 watt hamilton pendants towards the outer edges and it's not enough light for even some lps.

 

[NVTE]

hounddog01 . How many watt are your MHs ?
Assume you have 2x250W. I think the Reef Optix can't spread the light evenly. You might need extra light with large reflector (check out Lumen Max Elite)
My friend has similar 180gallon (6x2x2) and use to have 3x250W MH with large reflector (Lumen Max). The light is even.

 

[hounddog01]

They are 250 watt phoenix bulbs. I have 2 more RO3 reflectors so I could put one in the middle. I do not know how it would do over 12 inches of acrylic in the middle. I keep encrusting monti's, a couple milli's mostly acans, challace, zoas. I have a hammer coral, torch, and bubble. These have been kept in the lower middle of the tank. The RO3's with the phoenix bulbs put out 1200 par 1 inch under the water. around 200 near the bottom.

I figured since the corals were going to be right under the halides and I have a 90 (24 inches deep) now that they would be ok.

I would love to have some lumen max 20 inch reflectors but do not have the $$ for them and just missed out on a used pair.