4' light tank over a 6' tank???

I am upgrading from a 90 gal. to a 135 gal. I was thinking that maybe a 48" with 2 MH would work ok but im not positive. A 72" light cost a lot more and im on a very tight budget and was thinking that i might just get a 48" with 2 250 watt bulbs. I have a single 400 watt now over my 90 gal. but its only 48 inches long. Would a 48 inch light with 2 250 watt MH work over a 6 foot tank??? Or should i go retro and make a canopy which i would like to have?? and if so on the retro could i still use 2 250 watt lights and space them out a little???

 

well it would be wierd looking
and you could only keep your corals in the middle

if you want to go for a little less $ try looking at doing a retrofit with 3 MH bulbs?

 

Would you recommend 3 150s or 3 250s or 1 250 in the middle and 2 150s on the side???

 

well with the 3 150w you could keep basicly everything cause you would have around 5w per gallon on a 90 i would probobly go with this

i think 3 250w would cook anything to close cause you would have like 8 or so wats per gallon

just my take

 

im upgrading to a 135 gal FROM a 90 gal.

my 90 gal has a 400 watt MH and 4 65 watt pc bulbs now.

 

if you did retrofiting for your last tank, i would assume retrofiting would be the easiest way as you could use your pc's as actinics.

a metal halide bulb is made to cover 2 square feet in a aquarium.

 

so i would need at least 3 mh lights correct?? what would you use for a wattage for 3 MH over a 135 gal. tank??

 

3 175's thats if you want corals all the way across the tank

edit: also i would use your pc's as actinics

 

You do need to consider how deep the tank is when picking out a MH. Three across makes sense to me, but there are many ways to remove the fur from a feline entity. I have seen canopies with one MH on one side and T5s on the other. Pretty cool. Coral placement was important in this case but it worked.