Is 250w mh to much for my 29g reef?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Trigs

its 19"x13"x30"long

When speaking dimensions it's always l x w x h so yours would be 30x13x19", right? Eeep, that's an awful shape to use as a reef! That's going to be a real pain in the butt!

A DE MH does a poor job of spreading light, but is much more intense than a SE. A SE bulb spreads the light much better and produces less hot spots (spots of higher intensity). Both SE and DE bulbs will light a 24x24" area with most reflectors. The SE will do it more evenly, and the DE will do it more strongly. Neither will do a good job spreading the light over the 30" length of your tank. It's going to be rather dim on the ends. This may work to your advantage though as you could keep the lower light corals on the ends of your tank.

I assume this will be your first sw tank? If so, I would recommend you get a bigger tank, it's easier to keep stable. Your light would be great over a cube shaped tank or a shallow cube. Something 20x20x16" or 24x24x18" or something like that would be great. Much easier to light, and also easier to rockscape it. Just a thought...