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I have a 46 bow reef, and I was wondering if I should upgrade to metal halide. Problem is... most 36 halide systems only have 1 halide bulb in it, which would be bad since it would RIGHT OVER the center brace.

However, I did find a fixture with TWO 150w bulbs in it. Would that be too mich light for a 46, or would i have to do everything to prevent algae?

I don't think it would be a problem with algae if you kept on top of water params, but instead with the corals you wanted to keep. It would be a great high light sps system, but most softies and low light lps might not appreciate that much light.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Agreed, it would be ideal for high light sps but not a whole lot else.

Coralife sells a metal halide fixture (here) which mounts on the side of the aquarium. You could illuminate one side of the aquarium with it, then use a shorter, weaker fixture for the other half. That would allow for a bit more diversity in corals, too.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Actually I would disagree a little bit on this one. depending on how your live rock is setup you could keep lower light stuff by creating overhangs and caves. I currently have three 175's over a 5 foot tank and I use overhangs to keep brains under and other low light inverts. Higher lite SPS I keep at the top and then the medium light guys everywhere else with my couple low light softies and brain in the overhangs and caves and it works out very well. Also you could keep a lot of zoo's and mushrooms and scroll corals and such out in the higher light also.

Anyways just my 2 cents.