lighting advice for newbie

[evojoe67]

i've got a 72" tank, with one 250watt metal halide, in the center. i've also got 2 moonlights, one on each end.
my questions are:
1- can i have some coral, with this setup, or is it too little light? i currently have a xenia frag, and a green polyp toadstool leather,positioned directly under the metal halide.
2- what other lights should i purchase? i was thinking 2 more metal halides, but i want various corals and heard actinics(spelling?),are better.
3-i keep my lights on an average of 10hrs a day, with moonlights on at all times. good? have no problem with alge, so thats not a concern.

i would appreciate any advice, thanks

[ardo_ski]

Originally Posted by evojoe67

i've got a 72" tank, with one 250watt metal halide, in the center. i've also got 2 moonlights, one on each end.
my questions are:
1- can i have some coral, with this setup, or is it too little light? i currently have a xenia frag, and a green polyp toadstool leather,positioned directly under the metal halide.
2- what other lights should i purchase? i was thinking 2 more metal halides, but i want various corals and heard actinics(spelling?),are better.
3-i keep my lights on an average of 10hrs a day, with moonlights on at all times. good? have no problem with alge, so thats not a concern.

i would appreciate any advice, thanks

How deep is your tank? That will really make a difference on what kinds of corals you can keep. One MH for 72" is really not enough to cover the entire tank no matter how deep it is. The MH normally have a light spread of 24" so adding 2 more will really help. Actinic will help the color of certain corals really pop under the MH and also give you a good dawn to dusk effect. Depending on the MH K you are running will really depend on if you run the actinic the entire day or just before and after the MH's. So if you are running a high K bulb you might get a away with not running any actinic. Let us know what K bulb you are running also.

[evojoe67]

my 250 m/h is 15k