Lighting

["Daphne Freeman" <daphne.freeman at charter_net>]

Marty, I don't remember ever seeing a 200 watt metal halide but then again,
I don't get out much.

As I recall, a 90 is about 5 feet long?  You are going to get "fall off"
with a point source light and I think the recommendation is a bulb every 3
feet or so.  You could use a single 175 but you are going to have quite a
bit of shade on the ends of your tank. Personally, I think 2 175's would be
too much, but that is just my opinion.  Might be interesting to use both MH
and CF lights.

I have a 250 watt Iwasaki 6500K metal halide over my 92 gallon corner and
love it!  However, a corner tank has a smaller footprint. Even with it, I
played with mounting the reflector perpendicular vs. parallel to the front
of the tank.  It has an Icecap electronic ballast driving it.  Recently, I
did send the ballast back to Icecap for a problem and they were extremely
professional, friendly and turned it around really fast.  FWIW, I also got
the Spider Light reflector to mount my bulb horizontally inside the hood and
have been extremely pleased with it as well.  I purchased the entire setup
from Premium Aquatics and their service was top notch as well.

I can't address how far the light spreads on a pendant, I've never tried one
but I would think you would get a larger area with a horizontal mount. Of
course, height above the tank is relevant to this issue as well.

My tank has glass over everything except the back corner which is open.
This is going to cut your light down so that is something you could use to
your advantage if you were trying to tone it down.

If you go compact fluorescents, check out AH Supply, their reflectors are
incredible.  No matter which type of light you get, don't skimp on the
reflector. There is quite a bit of discussion in the archives on this.

Keep in mind, the more light you have over the tank, the "faster" it runs.
If you go the "more" path, you will definitely have to be more diligent
about everything.  The faster it runs, the easier it can get away from you
and crash!  I say this from first hand experience!!

Good luck.

Daphne