PC upgrade to MH?

[perculaclownguy]

I admit I am not as well versed in MH lighting. The reading I have done all says that MH lighting costs alot and dumps heat like no tomorrow etc. etc... which only makes me shy away from it since I dont knwo enough about it. Can any one steer me towards some good advice on MH and what are the real costs, drawbacks and rewards? I really would like to upgrade my PC lights and I am getting to the point of needing new bulbs so now would be the time I should get the new setup. It seems that the best set ups all have MH lighting.

I have a 90 gallon tank so I am assuming from what I have been reading that 1 175W 10,000K should be suffcient? It is in a wall so the fish room is wide open with no canopy. how high do you mount them? do they need glass? any reccomendations on any parts of this would be cool, lights, reflector, ballast mounting....

Any help would be great. and we can talk I am sure at the BBQ.

Perc guy

[gooch]

We have a bunch of lighting options on our tanks. 400 watt radiums,250 watt hqi de 10k usios,250 watt Iwasaki's. 250 watt 20k xm bulbs,150 watt de hqi 10k and 20k usios, and 3 T-5 8 bulb Tek Lights. In total 16 MH fixtures and 3 t-5 units.


My favorite light is the 150 watt hqi 10K ushio system. My wife likes the 250 watt hqi's. The T-5's are nice but still too new for me to give an honest opinion on them. I am getting good growth on a few staghorn frags with them. Havn't done the clams yet but will put a couple in to try.


For a 90 depending on what you want to keep I would say 250 de 10k ushios would be a good choice. I think the 150's may be week if you wanted to go total sps. I have three 150's over a 180 gallon with softies and lps. Everything loves it or at least grows real well in this system. But I have very few if any sps corals in this tank most of the time.

gooch

[perculaclownguy]

What I have found so far that is in my price point and would probably do exactly what I need is this:

PFO Lighting HQI Mini Metal Halide Pendant

I found it at Marine depot. I have never bought from them but For the price of the complete mini pendant for $299 I cant complain.

Would you say that the 10k ushios are better than the double ended bulbs? any drawbacks to either?

[gooch]

I think DE bulbs have more positives and here is why.

Bulb life approx 18months. Smaller more compact pendants. More intensity and the 150's are faily energy efficient as MH goes.

Drawback is a uv shield must be used with them. Limited to only a few bulb choices.

I have read the 150 hqi's are as intense as a standard 250 watt bulb and the 400 hqi is equal to a 400 watt bulb.

gooch

[lesd]

I think he meant the 250W HQI is equivalent to a 400W bulb.

This article has some good data:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/feature.htm

[gooch]

Thats what I meant. Thanks Leslie.

[perculaclownguy]

coolness. I think the 150's are more than enough for right now. I prolly wont get into stony corals for a while yet. but I would like to keep clams etc...
I sent you an Email Gooch.Looking forward to seeing what you can do.
...and I will continue to sell the idea to my wife. :) :D

[perculaclownguy]

i just noticed that the 250's are only 16 dollars more than the 150 HQI MH setups at marine depot. I would guess that the 250's would be overkill for my tank though or am I wrong?

[Holyreefer]

you should be ok with the 250ths