250w or 400w?

[shallowreef]

Okay I found the light system i wanted (6' 3-400w HQI and T5 HO actinics) made by Hamilton. But heres the thing. You see i wanted to go with 400w but i am worried that they will overheat my tank causing mee to buy a chiller that i have absolutely no room for. But i wanted teh stronger lights for beter coral growth and color. Hamilton makes the exact same fixture only in a 250 so i am wondering if i should just stick with the 250 or move up to the 400s?

Do any of you guys with 150+ gallons run 400s? How many and do you have to run a chiller?

Also just a reminder my tank is an a basement that is usually 70* year round.

So what do you guys think i should do?

250s or 400s?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

How deep is your tank? Both depth and front to back. If only 18-24" deep, 250s are fine. Deeper, and you might like 400s if raising SPS or clams

 

[shallowreef]

24W and 30D

 

[Scooterman]

How deep is this tank? Usually over 24, 25 inches people that need that much light will switch over from 250's to 400'W, but when doing this you must consider the PAR on lamp/ballast used because you can have more PAR with a 250W 10k's over a 400W 20k's lamp, just depends on the so many combinations. I don't think people take that into much consideration when choosing lamps & ballast, figuring hey I have 250's so that should be good for anything.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

24W and 30D

If growing SPS or clams or prefer it really blue, go with the 400s. Will produce more heat but better output for the same colors. If only softys or LPS, the 250s would be fine.

 

[shallowreef]

Scooter,

I got confused reading your post. Sorry for sounding like a newby but i don;t get you when you say PAR? I was planning on running either 20k or 14k bulbs if i went with 400s. My tank is 30" deep and is 24" wide.

 

[shallowreef]

Well if i can i want to do SPS here and their. Like right now i am growing a digitata and plating montipora and a green slimer. I basically started out with the easiest ones to see how they do and then after awhile i was going to expand my collection. When its all said and done i would like to keep softies, LPS, SPS, and clams.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

The whiter the light, the deeper penetration the light. PAR measures the usable power relative to depth.

http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm#S-2

 

[shallowreef]

Well i don't want to go 10k (too white) so i guess i should be okay.

 

[joshinjosh]

get the 400 watters and a nice fan(s) blowwing across the top, you don't want to regret it later

 

[Herefishyfishy]

An awesome thread full of information on this topic:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5039

 

[shallowreef]

Herefishyfishy,

That link you gave must be old because the links listed in there don't work for me.

 

[Brenden]

With the HQI pendants will will fine with 250W. Just keep in mind you will need to keep the high light corals off the bottom. With the 400w you would not have to worry about it. If it were me I would do 250w. I tested some 250w HQI pendant on a 36 " deep tank and grew GSP, galaxea, zoas, etc on the bottom with no problem

 

[SueT]

I agree, if going with sps and or clams you don't actually have to go 400w halides to keep them. Especially if you're worried about heat buildup cause you will definitely have it. Go with 250w HQI and then the sps should do great. Also a 10k is not too white if you consider the reeflux lamps. I am using the 250w 10k reeflux and have never had more color on all of my acropora and montipora, both plating and encrusting. If your going to supplement with actinic that would take any whiteness you see too.

 

[balogh03]

My lights arnt HQI's, but i do have 3 400w MH over my 240gal. All i have is two fans on each side of the hood, and it never gets over 80 degrees. The only reason i got the 400's is because i was going to do a complete sps...but with school and everything else i am doing latly, mixed reef is just fine for me

good luck

-augustus

 

[meitzler]

I have 3 400 HQI over a 330, running 10 hours per day, and a chiller is required to keep it at 79 degrees. Otherwise it will go to between 82 and sometimes 85. Be careful on the 400 HQI double ended, which is what I have. The bulb selection is limited.

 

[morgan]

i run 1 400 wat on a 50gallon and dont have temp problems its a pendant and the blub is a single ended 14k coralvue good colour and bulb
and in summer it gets to like 40 degrees

 

[gadandy]

Okay I found the light system i wanted (6' 3-400w HQI and T5 HO actinics) made by Hamilton. But heres the thing. You see i wanted to go with 400w but i am worried that they will overheat my tank causing mee to buy a chiller that i have absolutely no room for. But i wanted teh stronger lights for beter coral growth and color. Hamilton makes the exact same fixture only in a 250 so i am wondering if i should just stick with the 250 or move up to the 400s?

Do any of you guys with 150+ gallons run 400s? How many and do you have to run a chiller?

Also just a reminder my tank is an a basement that is usually 70* year round.

So what do you guys think i should do?

250s or 400s?

As an FYI, I run 400W 20K with a 55 corner Oceanic with no issues or chiller. I also push the 400W 20K with my new 75 gallon as well. They have been running for over a year with no issues needing a chiller. On the few occasions when it got a little high in heat I run a fan wich draws the heat out of the canopy. Good luck!!

 

[shallowreef]

I think I am going to go with the 400w 20k system. For the price difference its not worh it to do 250s. They are only like a $300 less. I think the 250s would be nice but i run them now over my tank and i think that they just aren't strong enough. I mean a lot of my coral has browned out or faded since i bought them. Although it may be dur to running only 14k bulbs. But if i were to go 20k it really looks blue. Almost too blue. So i know that 400s are much stronger in intensity and the 20k bulbs on a 400 don't look as dark as a 20k on a 250.

Someone correct me if i am wrong here.

PLUS MY TANK IS IN A BASEMENT THAT IS 70* YEAR ROUND!

I really don't think that heat will be an issue. the more that i think about it. Plus i have a controller that can shut the lights off if the temp gets too high. So actually the more i think about it i think i'll be fine.

 

[Scooterman]

When you say strong enough what do you mean by that?
Again I say (example only) if you get a 400W 20k lamp over your tank on one side & a 250 10k XM on the other side, which one do you think would produce more usable light, higher PAR? Until you understand this & what you decide to use, only then will you understand strong enough. If you don't understand this then before buying anything you should do some research, we've countlessly posted many test by Sanjay & other resources comparing different lighting combinations.