Metal Hal's how many watts do i need?

[klubvibez]

i have a 60 gallon tank, the dimensioins are as follows:


49 inches long
18 inches tall
and 16 inches width


right now ive got 130 watt power compacts (two 65 watt 50/50 bulbs)


how many watt's metal hallyde do i need to have any kind of coral i want?

[swissfish]

can't have enough

i think two 250w should do.

[Thumper]

With the depth 2 175's should do fine. You could use 250's but it would be more heat to deal with and no real gain. You have to remember the more wattage means more heat. This is just my oppinion but I would opt for 2 175's. In a tank of this size going overkill on lighting will give you problems if you ever want to have low light corals. You need to think this out before rushing out and buying lights only to find out later you made a $500 mistake, IMO

[RMPD109]

Just a thought for the experts to advise on but, why not a 250 on half the tank and something less like pc on the other half. Wouldnt this work since most MH only have a 2 ft wide coverage?

[RMPD109]

Or possibly even keeping your existing setup and adding a 175 to one side.

[Salttanker]

You could get away with doing a 175 MH on each side since the tank isn't that deep. It would definitely be cooler as well.

Mike

[ellisz]

Might not look right with just one. You could always try it and see how it looks. I would think 175's would be best too.

[Thumper]

You could add a single 175 but the looks would not be good at all. When I turn on a single light on my tank without firing up the others it looks weird. You could however add one to the middle of the tank and run a couple vho's but then again for the money why not just buy dual 175's in the 14000k range to begin with. Just research it and do your homework and you will be fine. MH's are the best route imo for the money and with this set up you can keep pretty much whatever you want by placing them in different spots in the tank.

[captivereefs]

dual 175's would be fine for an 18" deep tank.