lighting questions
 

I am thinking of putting one 400 watt MH bulb above the centre of my tank( tank will be 90 gallons) and then putting all the other lights around it. My question is, will this look esthetically unpleasing to the the viewers eye? Right now I am currently only running PC, but seeing as I am moving I want to improve the lights.
Feedback anyone?
I know 2-250 watts would look better

I know a guy that has a 6' long tank with a 400w in the middle and 2 24" pc lights on either side of the halide. You can tell, but it's nothing bad

how does he place his corals. Mostly in the middle? I guess all SPS would be fine in the middle, right?

yeah, he didn't have a lot of sps, but the higher light corals in the middle, and the softies and such on the sides.

he also has a 29gal with a 175w halide on it for his corals, so it's not like he was using his large tank to grow a super reef.

Does the tank have a center brace?

yes it does have a centre brace....damnit

Hmmm.... center brace will probably kill half your lumens... so you'll have about 200W for light and another 200 for that heat problem you alluded to... get some good fans and 2 175's or better yet 250's...

Just my 2 bits...

I am running one 250 14k over a 48inch long tank with center brace. Meets my needs :lol:
very little shadow etc!

All depends if it is plastic or not....If it is a plastic brace a 400Watt has the possibility of melting it!!!

I think you have to figure out what kind of corals you want to keep. Like reeferaddict said, you will lose quite a bit of your light value if it is over a centre brace. That being said a 400W puts out a lot of light. I have 3 X 400W over my tank (with a center brace). I still keep some SPS under the middle light but mostly digi and lesser light loving - the others are LPS and softies. I don't keep any of my clams under the center light. So basically it is up to you to decide what you want to keep. Also remember that you are going to be paying for electricty to run a 400W bulb that you may not be getting the full benefit of - your also going to have more heat output.