coral lighting question

I have recently seen the tank of my dreams, and my girlfriends (which is very important), and now have a question about my lighting as it relates to the corals I would like to keep. In my original lighting scheme I planned 2X55 watt PC and 175 watt metal halide for a 40 gallon tall. But after seeing a tank set up with zoos and ricordia like I would really like to do, and noting that the owner olny use PC and NO flourescents. I am wondering if I should go with the metal halide or not? 4X55 watt PCs would give me 11 more watts porportianly then him, but I worry with my tank being 16 inches tall that I would not get enough light penetrating to depth.

Here is a link to the tank
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/totm/index.htm

Any thought from people that keep these type corals or a setup like this?

 

Everybody seems to love this tank. If it were me I wouldn't put MH on top of a tank dominated by polyps and ricordia. There is no need to spend the money for a Halide when NO and PC's will grow it. It's just a question of getting the right amount of wattage with the NO and PC. If I were you I would look at a few sites that sell T-5 setups, VHO setups, and PC setups. One of the best fixtures out there right now are the Coralife Aqualights. The other thing I would suggest is to buy a 175 MH bell pendant with a 14K bulb. What are the measurements of your tank?

 

The tank is 36 long X 16 high X 13 wide. I already have a 2X55 watt PC with 10K bulbs. From what I have read doubling this would be sufficent for those type corals. But I should be able to do the metal halide for about the same cost as another 2X55 watt set, more or less. Is it over kill? Would it cause a problem to have it?

I would also like a Tridacna clam. Will PC be sucficent for it as well?

And one more question on the coral. I notice there is calcium reactor on the tank. Is this needed for these type corals?

 

I don't think the Halide would be over kill. Get a 175 watt 10K halide and change the 10K PC's that you have to actinic 03 bulbs. The clam would do better under halides, but if you put it high enough up under the PC's it will be OK. It is always good to keep your calcium levels up when keeping any kind of coral and you'll definitely want to keep it up when keeping any kind of clam. You don't have to do a reactor. You can do a two part additive like B-ionic or C-balance or you can dose kalkwasser.

 

I had planned to switch the 10ks out for Atinics in the future. They were originaly bought for a frog setup that never came to be, and are brand new. So I really didn't want to waste them. My thought was that 10k all around would be ok until the bulbs needed replacing the first time?

Thanks for the help.