# Reef lighting for a 46 gallon bowfront



## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

Do you guys think this would be sufficient lighting for a 46g reef tank:

Outer Orbit 1x150w HQI 2x96w Power Compact


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## Apott05 (Jul 19, 2005)

what are the tank dims? they say one MH per 2 feet. on my 45 long i am running 2x175 with no pc's.


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

It's 36 x 16 x 21, which is a little deeper than your 45 long. How is the 2x175 for you? Is it too much lighting or is it about right?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Elongatus cockus said:


> It's 36 x 16 x 21, which is a little deeper than your 45 long. How is the 2x175 for you? Is it too much lighting or is it about right?


i wouldnt do 1 mh unless you plan on placing all your coral near the middle of teh tank. i had one 70w halide over a 20l which is 30inchs and the sides hardly got light.. also if you can find the newer outter orbits with t5 instead of power compact it would be a better set up


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## Apott05 (Jul 19, 2005)

Elongatus cockus said:


> It's 36 x 16 x 21, which is a little deeper than your 45 long. How is the 2x175 for you? Is it too much lighting or is it about right?


It also depends on what type of coral you plan on doing. I think that light would be fine for your mushrooms and LPS. If you wanna do some SPS then i would defintatly plan on getting a better light. So far i am keeping a bunch of zoas and a few peices of acropora with out any problems.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Apott05 said:


> It's 36 x 16 x 21, which is a little deeper than your 45 long. How is the 2x175 for you? Is it too much lighting or is it about right?


It also depends on what type of coral you plan on doing. I think that light would be fine for your mushrooms and LPS. If you wanna do some SPS then i would defintatly plan on getting a better light. So far i am keeping a bunch of zoas and a few peices of acropora with out any problems.
[/quote]

great point..


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Apott05 said:


> It's 36 x 16 x 21, which is a little deeper than your 45 long. How is the 2x175 for you? Is it too much lighting or is it about right?


*It also depends on what type of coral you plan on doing*. I think that light would be fine for your mushrooms and LPS. If you wanna do some SPS then i would defintatly plan on getting a better light. So far i am keeping a bunch of zoas and a few peices of acropora with out any problems.
[/quote]

Great point!!! Pick the corals you want to keep, then pick a lighting system to match their needs.


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