Lighting a 120 Gallon AGA dual MEga overflow tank

[frezel]

Ok first i keep everything in my tank, except for SPS and clams.

With that said i need a lighting setup to run it. Currently i have a dual 175w MH setup and an icecap 660 that i can use for some type of lighting configuration.

But from what i have been reading that 250W MH would be better. Currrently there is something wrong with the 175 ballast so it might be time to upgrade to 250 if i cant fix it, (loud buzzing sound from ballast PFO box)

2nd choice was to do all VHO like 8 of them but im not sure if that would be just as good. From what i see these huge overflow in the back would take away from almost 2 bulbs worth of light towards the back.

I wanna do it right this time anad only do it once. Please recommnend me some lighting options, and some good sites or combos that i could use on my set up.

[Bebo77]

you dont need MH if you dont plan on keeping SPS.. get a nice T5 set up....http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9866&N=2004+113175

[Ludwigia73]

If you're going to replace the ballast anyway, I'd go with 2x250 xm 10000k. Then I'd go with 4xvho ushio actinics. That should get you great color, great growth. That setup would be great for acros and clams if you ever decide to do them (and lets face it, we're never satisfied with what we have) I have 2x250 xm 10 k's with actinic vho on my 65 tall, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Good color light, good growth, okay color on the corals. I think my tank is a little bright, and if I had it to do over again, I'd do the 175w. Your tank is much bigger than mine, and I personally think 175 w is under lit. 250 would probably be great.
As a side note, my corals are growing beautifully, and the lights are a bit bright, so I'm seriously considering replacing them with 250w xm 20000k's, then I can get rid of the actinics and save some energy. 220w at 8 hrs per day, 1760 w per day, 52.8kw per month, almost 26 bucks I can knock off my bill doing that! I'd really like to go T-5, because it's cheaper to experiment with different color bulbs, and I've seen some amazing tanks with T-5.

I have also just recently seen a gorgeous tank running completely on vho, with an amazing xenia colony, a huge monti cap, some monti digitata, a few acro colonies, and other assorted softies. That tank really made me reconsider what I could do with 720 watts of power...