I need MH advice!!!!

[KRG]

Just wanted to throw a question out. I'm still debating over the new lighting for my 125g thru-wall project. It's going to be a softie tank like my past tanks but I want to upgrade to MH for color and also, so that I can mount the lights higher above the tank. In the past I've been a pc person and it's worked fine but......since I'm going all out with my project I don't want to do anything 1/2 way. I'm leaning towards a hanging hood with fans and lunars already installed, 72". What do you guys think? I'm not an ebay person, I would rather buy new with warranties, good bulbs etc. I don't know much about halide lighting being that I've never bought it before. The tank is 23" high and I would like to mount the lights 10" above the tank. If you want to see the setup/construction my pics are posted in the member showcase forum.

The thread is http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19336

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very appreciative!!!

~ Krystee

 

[MarineTeng]

umm i think for that height, that's near the end of the 250's suggested height... i'd go with the 400w's 10k's if you're doing actinics and 20k's if not, just my thoughts
and that is a very nice set up u got going in that thread

 

[LakeEd]

Being a standard 24" height tank... I think 250watt bulbs would be just fine... especially with you wanting to do mostly LPS & Softies.

Like MarineTeng mentioned... if you are doing Actinics, a good 10K bulb (like XM) would be super! I like how the Actinics (especially VHO Actinics) seem to help the green & blues pop... so I would run those along with XM 10K MH bulbs.

 

[KRG]

i'd go with the 400w's 10k's if you're doing actinics and 20k's if not

Is this lighting requirements for sps or softies? The only real light loving things I have at the moment are a couple of BTA's. Both were puchased silver dollar sized, never had one split yet but the largest is bigger than a football. I do plan on having an "Anemone Island" in the new tank. I'm only at about 4.75 watts per gallon on the 55 right now ( 4x65 watt pc's) - like I said before though, want a good upgrade for color, etc...

 

[KRG]

Being a standard 24" height tank... I think 250watt bulbs would be just fine... especially with you wanting to do mostly LPS & Softies.

Like MarineTeng mentioned... if you are doing Actinics, a good 10K bulb (like XM) would be super! I like how the Actinics (especially VHO Actinics) seem to help the green & blues pop... so I would run those along with XM 10K MH bulbs.

So, XM 10K MH bulbs... and VHO is better than PC? What about all of the talk regarding T5 (never even seen T5 before, only read about it)? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can use 20K MH and not worry about the pc, vho or t5 (MarineTeng)????? Should I do pendants or a pre-made fixture? I was thinking a fixture because of the actinics and lunars (is it even necessary if I do 20K MH?). Being pc only in the past 7 yrs for saltwater I am a complete newbie to other types of light.

You guys are awesome with your quick responses, thanks so much! ~ K

 

[LakeEd]

I can't give you 1st hand information on the T5's... sorry.

However, I started out with PC lighting... and when I purchased my new tank, I picked up some VHO's. I was sooo very happilly pleased and shocked about the difference in the VHO Actinic lights, and the colors it brought out in my tank, that I wouldn't use anything else!

Some people enjoy the bluer color the 14K and 20K lights bring to their tanks. I prefer a more "daylight" color to my tank, thus my liking the 10K bulbs.

 

[MarineTeng]

i've heard vho is a lot better then pc, i have pc's and wouldn't buy again, probably go t-5 or mh... sorry i didn't read your other thread just browsed the pics real quick.you won't need 400w for softies and lps, 250 will down fine. as for color i think 10k alone is too yellow and actinic really helps it out or having a higher kelvin bulb, i've heard these bring out colors in corals a lot more, hence why a lot of coral stores and online sellers have all their stuff under 20k mh's

 

[KRG]

This is good info guys!!! The wheels are finally starting to turn now. Can you recommend a place to start price comparing? (pm if need be???)

Just don't send me to Ebay.....over Labor day weekend I became a victim of identity theft and an account was drained. I got my money back because of FDIC insurance but the detective working on my case said that the stuff purchased through forgery was most likely either traded for drugs or sold on Ebay. I'm freaked out on the whole Ebay thing now. I'll buy new for awhile . BTW there's a thread on that too...

~ Krystee

 

[MarineTeng]

sponser aquarium extreme is good, that's where i got my stuff, they had good customer service and good prices, they also had what i wanted. they have seios at a good deal if you want flow that way, sorry to hear about the ebay incident and what not

 

[KRG]

Thanks, I'm waiting patiently for Aquarium Extreme to get their product catalog back on line. That part of the site is shut down at the moment for inventory or something.

 

[mfinn]

Checkout www.diyreef.com and www.marinedepot.com while your waiting.

 

[Slickdonkey]

If it was me I'd forgo the halides for a softie tank. They suck a lot of electricity and heat up the tank, which means you might need a chiller, which means more electricity... and so on.

If you do go with halides be sure to take into account the distance they're mounted off the water. I have a 24" deep tank (1" sandbed) and the 250W's are mounted about 12" off the water (should be more like 8"). I'm finding I'll probably have to upgrade to 400W to keep stonies.

 

[mfinn]

Well if you want tp keep corals and have them look nice, either VHO or MH.
PC lighting sucks IMO.

I use mh and vho on my softy tank and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[KRG]

That's funny, I was just thinking the same thing when your post came through. As a matter of fact I was reading up on the T5's as being comparable to MH without the heat and higher costs of running them. I'm going to do some searches and see what kind of info I can pull up on this type of lighting. I wonder what the difference is between T5 and VHO?

 

[mfinn]

If it was me I'd forgo the halides for a softie tank. They suck a lot of electricity and heat up the tank, which means you might need a chiller, which means more electricity..

I agree with you there Slickdonkey, but nobody can say this is a cheap hobby.:lol:

 

[KRG]

Well if you want tp keep corals and have them look nice, either VHO or MH.

VHO by themselves or did you mean in addition to the MH?

 

[mfinn]

I used VHO lighting on my 180 for about 6 years and it looked great.
But I used 6x160 watt VHO.
About 14-15 months ago I switched to 3x250 mh AND 4x160 VHO.

But before I even really considered mh, I was very happy with VHO.

I also have noticed that people who get into T-5's are usually extremely happy, once you get over the sticker shock on new systems.

 

[redrooster]

I run 2x250 MH 14K + actinic flouro on my 75 gal and like the results. However for mostly softies the MH isn't nessecary. In fact with a lot of MH you will have to be careful not to overlight pieces near the top. I have "melted" a few mushrooms and zoo's before I realized too much light could be an issue. Live and learn.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Well I never said I don't like my halides... I do like them (especially the shimmer look) but maybe the tradeoffs are not worth it to some people I would say. Definitely look into the T5's. They are cooler, cheaper, and you can keep damn near anything you want with them.

 

[Reefdaddy1]

Thanks, I'm waiting patiently for Aquarium Extreme to get their product catalog back on line. That part of the site is shut down at the moment for inventory or something.

hey KRG, We have done some pretty extensive look backs on how price for T5's compare to MH, in the end it proved out the cost difference is made up with more frequent bulb purchses on T5 then MH, Now this maybe due to the news comming out on T5 lately about changing them every 6 months or so, But T5 owners do tend to buy more frequently then MH users. Just a point of View from a Vendor.

Our site is back up now also.