Need some help on MH / Actinic combo pendants.

[Bananimal]

I'm not much of an electrician. Plumbing asd other stuff I can handle. I'm looking for some MH / Actinic pendants that I can hang over my tank. My tank will be 72X72X30. I'm planning on doing just softies for now. Considering the depth of my tank should I go with 400W 20k MH or 250W 10K MH's? I'm not too concerned with price and want the best I can get. I'm a firm believer in getting what you pay for.

Thanks

 

[Katchupoy]

i recommend that you go with 250's. It doesnt heat your water that much compared to 400's and I think that the more of source light you have the better. So, 2x400's is almost the same with 3x250's. The light will be more spread, thus limiting the shadow effect on corals.

 

[Ohgee]

On a tank that deep I would personally go with the 400w. But that is if we are talking a sps tank, i fyou are planning on primarily a LPS and softy tank then you could easily get away with the 250. Some people will even mix and match the two bulbs to give a wider variety.

If I were to do that I would go with a 400w in middle and 250's on the end. As far as 10k's or 20k's it depends more on if you like the bluer spectrum. The 20's are much more blue than the 10s but I've read the 10k's have better growth. There are even some newer 15k's that might be a happy medium.

follow this post for more info there .... http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7901

I'll saend this link to Charlie as well, he's one of the best I know when it comes to lighting

Duane

 

[CarlaW]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers, that is gonna be one big beast!!! If I anm not mistaken, we're talking about 675 gallons? Where are your braces going to be on the top? That will help determine how many lites you are gonna want. The 250w will keep softies just fine, But I think you will want to go with 400w, just in case you get the colored stick syndrome .
PFO makes hoods that would be just about right, but like I said before, I'd like to know where your braces are gonna be. Are you going to have a canopy for this?
If you could give a little more info that would help! There are alot of people with more lighting experience than me here, hopefully they can chime in here, and give you a hand.
GOD, it's early, I need more coffee

 

[Bananimal]

Mike at Precision Clarity tells me that I will need to mount the lights a minimum of ten inches above the tank. I'm not sure on the euro bracing yet. I would imagine it will be a cross brace with two braces running perpendicular and crossing each other down the center of the tank. If I can do it out of 1" plastic I may be able to leave the center open. More than likely I can as this tank is only 30" high. If I do a canopy it will have to be motorized so that I can draw it straight up into ceiling. I've thought about this and am planning on using a marine boat lift although on a smaller scale. The pendants will be hard mounted inside the canopy.

PFO? Do they have a website?

Thanks

 

[CarlaW]

pfolighting.com. Try that!