I just saw this thread pop back up, and I thought I would give you'all an update.

I went with 2*250 after buying a light meater and finding out how little light I was really getting. Now I have the lights mounted 10 inches off the surface of the water so I get even coverage, and proper light. The reason I bought the 250's is because I will upgrade tanks to a 120 in the near future.

With the upgrade and a few minor changes my problems are behind me, and I am finally excited about what is going on in my tank.

Whiskey

:thumbsup:

400W BlueLine electronic metal halide ballast
 

Read all the posts. I have a used 72" light with 2 VHO actinics and three 400W, 2 blueline 10K and 1 XM 10K used bulbs. I'm looking into replacing the bulbs and trying to decide on a brand name...usio, reeflux, coralvue, hamilton.......?????I have a blue tort, slimmers, and other acropora frags. I'm wanting to know which brand has the better bulbs, found some on ebay and someone said bad PAR, how do you know what par the bulbs are?
my tank is 135 gallon, 72"L, 24" tall,
newby to sps and halides

I tested most all of them, I run XM10K. So does Sanjay. ;)

I just picked up 3 400w 10k Ushio's and of the 3, 1 of them is very yellow. I switched the bulbs around to make sure it wasn't one of the ballasts and it isn't.

Does anyoe know if there is a burn in period of these bulbs, do you think this will go away?

Well. I have only been at this for a littlewhile, and I was wondering what I could add to my tank to add more color. I am running PC lights, 200 watts on a 72 gal tank, and my my LPS and softies are growing very nice and very fast. But, I want more color!!! Am I running enough power to house anything with some more vibrant color?

Well. I have only been at this for a little while, and I was wondering what I could add to my tank to add more color. I am running PC lights, 200 watts on a 72 gal tank, and my my LPS and softies are growing very nice and very fast. But, I want more color!!! Am I running enough power to house anything with some more vibrant color?

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7317515#post7317515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JB NY [/i]
[B]I tested most all of them, I run XM10K. So does Sanjay. ;) [/B][/QUOTE]

i'm wanting some nice blue color without looking horrible blue. i was thinking the 12 or 14k of some brand, maybe reeflux or hamilton? trying to figure it out.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7334058#post7334058 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by volivier [/i]
[B]i'm wanting some nice blue color without looking horrible blue. i was thinking the 12 or 14k of some brand, maybe reeflux or hamilton? trying to figure it out. [/B][/QUOTE]

If you have an electronic ballast, an aquaconnect may be up your alley.

Which way do I go?
 

Ok, I've read this whole thread and there's alot of info. in here. And to be quite honest alot of it is over my head. I read the water quality thread and most of the water movement thread, all good. To me the most important is the water quality. But what I'm trying to figure out is what lights to run. Currently I running 150w 10k ushio de in a pfo pendant and 300w super actinics. My tank is 36Lx24Dx19WD. I'm the in process of moving towards an sps tank from a lps tank. Water movement I believe is not a problem I in my tank. I have approx. 1800gph total and when necessary I'll increase it. My question is, do I need to upgrade my lights or aleast the MH (or maybe the whole setup) or do you guys think what I have is fine. If my tank was only 18" deep I feel I would be fine, but being it' 24" I'm not so sure. I want to be sure. The water quality and movement is the easy part for me. I don't mind doing the water changes and such. That's part of the hobby (addiction). The sps's I have right now are small frags. And approx 100# of live rock.

Thanks for any input on this. And again great thread!!!!

Robert:crazy1:

Using DE ights I think you will be fine with your tank. Personaly I would at least try it with DE before I even thought of getting 250 MH.

Thanks Joe, Now that's only one DE light, plenty you think? My vho is only 24" also so I have 6" on each side that's not covered. I may go to t5 ho setup to take care of the coverage. No 36" vho bulbs that I'm aware of.

Thanks again.

I would use two DE on a 36" tank.

Thanks Joe, I know this off subject but do you feed your tank, corals I mean. If so, what?

How many of you are running with 250 watt MH bulbs and have a tank the is 30" deep/tall. Due to the cost of electricity and a larger tank I am thinking of switching from my 3- 400 wt down to 4 -250 watts, the new tank is longer, thats why I am figuring 4, they will be in luminarc3's.

I am getting by just fine with 3 x 250w XM 10k's on a 72 x 30 x 30. Perfect balance of growth, heat, and electrical consumption, IMO.

I've got a 75g tank and was thinking about maybe getting into SPS. Now I have (2) 150 MH's and all the sites that I've gone to say that this is enough wattage for sps, but I see you guys talking about 250 watt and up. Has anybody tried keeping SPS with 150 watt MH's and what were the results. I'm thinking about just buying one frag and seeing what happens after a few months. My water quality is exactly where it needs to be and as long as I can keep it there I'm hoping that will make up for the lack of lighting if there is one.


Also my other question is I'm looking into getting one of the new Solaris units, although this wouldn't be for awhile. At least not untill they make replacement LEDs on the unit that can be changed at home instead of sending the whole unit back. Anyways what do you think of this lighting in reguards to SPS?

I havent been in this game long but i can atleast give you my experience. I've been running 2 150w 10k hqi bulbs w/ 2 t5 actinics over my 75g and have been growing monti caps as the only sps coral so far w/ great results. Decent growth and no coloration loss. They are in the top 1/3 of my tank along w/ a maxima clam too if that helps you get an idea, check my gallery for some outdated pics. I want to try acros but am waiting for my tank to catch up on coralline and just give me a sense that it is maturing and stabilized before i spend all the money on expensive acros. All the other softies and lps are doing great also. Give the one or two frags of sps a shot, i dont think youll be totally disappointed. I might add that my 10k bulbs are generic brand and i'm looking forward to a growth comparison when i change to a blv or xm proven bulb in a few months.

well this is a large thread and maybe I missed it, but can you have to much light?

Roger

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10799942#post10799942 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rogergolf66 [/i]
[B]well this is a large thread and maybe I missed it, but can you have to much light?[/B][/QUOTE]
In my opinion, yes. Photoinhibition has been demonstrated in shallow water corals, even at higher latitudes. The zooxanthellae don't photosynthesize during the middle of the day when light is at its highest. If you were to provide that much light for the whole day in a tank, they probably won't photosynthesize at all.

Also note that even shallow water corals reach saturation at around 20% of full sunlight. i.e. they don't/can't make use of any more light.

How about 10K MH with VHO actinics? Best of both worlds??






[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?
s=&postid=2976407#post2976407 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AlgaeMan [/i]
[B]My observations are:
10k's are needed to keep yellows. Yellow turns green under 20k
20k's are better for keeping blues and deep purples
Mixing 10k's and 20k's are optimum for keeping all colors. [/B][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10801522#post10801522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy1 [/i]
[B]How about 10K MH with VHO actinics? Best of both worlds?? [/B][/QUOTE]

I always though so. At least 3 or 4 tubes though IMO.