MH lighting for an odd sized tank

[danpmiller]

After a 10 year hiatus (goodbye, wet-dry), I'm contemplating returning to the hobby by purchasing an Oceanic 54 gallon bowfront aquarium to fit nicely in a corner in my living room. Think of its footprint as 1/4 of a circle that is 27.5 inches in radius. The height is 23 inches. This tank would contain both fish and corals.

I'm thinking ahead about lighting, and plan to go the metal halide route. A rule of thumb that I've seen is that a single MH bulb will illuminate a circle 2 feet in diameter. This is slightly smaller than the size of my proposed tank.

My question: Do you see any potential challenges at lighting such a tank with a single MH bulb? What wattage would you recommend? What about supplementation with actinic bulbs?

Finally - thanks for a fantastic site. I also frequent other online forums (photography), and none is as civil as this one!

Regards,
Dan

 

[fishfreek]

How bout this.

What kind of corals are you looking at?

I would suggest a 250W MH bulb in the center of the tank. I would then get some PC actinics. Maybe 2 or 3 55W bulbs and put them along the sides and front for the blue light.

I know someone who uses 20K MH bulbs with no actinic supplment and then others use 10K MH bulbs with actnic supplment.

Thanks for the complment. We strive very much to make sure this site maintains its civility. (IS that even a word?)