[Dav]

Hi all

planning for a upgrade this year

i've got a space in the house for UP TO 8ft tank
but i'm looking at poss 6ft(6x2.5x2.5) to leave 1ft aside clearance to allow access if needed

i bought a 3x250 hailde(5ft) unit recently for this upgrade
but what i'd like to know is, would a 5ft light unit be ok in a 6 or 7 ft tank?

i know the answer is prob anything over 6ft would have to be luminare's
but just wanted to throw it out there to see if anyone has used a 5ft unit on a larger tank
and if(and what) they used additional lighting at the sides where light unit isn't directly above

cheers guys
and thanks for the help(if i get any lol)

dav

[Joey]

Hi Dav, I used a 2x 250w 4ft unit on my 6x2x2, all i did was slid the light fittings further apart to the ends and got a good enough spread of light. Have a look at my tank thread Here there are some pics on there showing the spread of light. So i think 3x 250 unit would be enough, just slide the fittings apart a bit and you should be fine.

HTH
Joey

[elliot09]

I've seen it done a couple of times, and it seems to work out fine. Worst case I guess the higher light demanding corals can be placed in the more intense locations.

[ben]

a 5ft unit will light a 6ft tank no problem imo, but it would struggle with an 8ft tank though.

[Dav]

cheers for the replys guys

thought the 6ft tank would be about all i'd manage
just thought i'd ask the question to see what has and hasn't been done

cheers
dav