MH?

[Phischy]

I'm starting to consider upgrading to MH lighting. But I'm a total noob at this. I do have a 40 gal tank that's 21" deep. It is acrylic and has a support in the middle. My stand is custom and 30" wide in the canopy.

I want to keep LPS/softies, no real desire at this time to get into SPS.

What sort of lights should I be looking for, I'm thinking 150w x2, the icecap models look promising, alot like what's up for prize, but the 150w model. And what temp? 10,000k supplimented by two 65w atinic 03's?

Any suggestions would be apprciated.
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[lgreen]

You could easily get away w/ pc or T5's if you only plan to keep LPS/softies.

Otherwise, if you want MH, you might take a look at the AquaMedic Oceanlight MH/T5 combo pendents.

CurrentUSA also has the Outerorbit MH units and the new Sunpod MH units.

I found 10k to be a little yellow for my taste, and went w/ 14k. 10k w/ the actinics shouldn't be to bad though.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with those corals MH may not be neccessary. How about an icecap VHO set up with four bulbs 2 actinic whites and 2 actinics - cheaper and very nice as far as color rendition in your corals. a 660 model ballast will do this for you. of course T5's are also an option but i can not speak on them cause i do not have any but I love icecap VHO - a huge step up from PC's

 

[EDGRAY]

:shock: :shock:wow i was just snooping in your pic and you have some great tank over there phischy... love the zoos and shrooms ... whenever you fill like selling some frags let me know... and also when looking your pics i reallice that in the glass of one of your pics you have some small white dots looking like snails i have does in my tank too.... can you share some info about them i always wanted to ask about does but couldnt take pics....

thx....

eddy

 

[Dickie52]

Yeah for great viewing and crisp light......

there is nothing like VHO.....

I run a combo of VHO and MH on my 120 prop tank

 

[Dickie52]

I found 10k to be a little yellow for my taste, and went w/ 14k. 10k w/ the actinics shouldn't be to bad though.

lgreen....

I have just bought the The Reeflux 10000K bulb and you want white, it has it. I like it because I hope to get the growth of a 10000K, while keeping the clear white look.....

http://www.reefexotics.com/reeflux_hqi_bulbs.htm

I just replaced the 2 175watt MH on my prop tank with Reeflux and love them too.... :loveface

 

[lgreen]

Dickie52,

I have heard those are better. 14k's were all the rage back when I got my hood. Now they say the 14ks have worse par than 20ks. Figures. :roll:

 

[harial]

I am upgrading to a 45 gallon corner tank and I am doing a 250 watt MH setup. Other people are saying that you don't really need MH and that is true I suppose, but your corals can only benifit from the upgrade and also there are some really beautiful softies that can survive under PCs just don't look very good. I bought some blue zoos that were a pretty electric blue since they had been kept under MH, but now that they are under my PCs they're grey now. Which leads me to believe that all the other zoos and softies can only become more beautiful with Metal Halide.

The only drawback is evaporation and heating. Make sure you have lots of air circulation so that you will not need to have a chiller.

But if you can deal with that, IMHO, you and your corals can only benifit from the change.