175 or 250 metal halide for Nano?

[swingdaddy]

I'm planning on a 10 gallon (20 gal max) nano at my office.
Planning to do some colorful zoos and ricordia's as a base, and some plating and another type of sps. It'll have a substrate and a old wet/dry which i will use as a sump.

Any input for either a 175 or 250 metal halide (14K, so i don't have to use any actinics flourscents).

Thanks

[M.Maddox]

With zoos and rics, even 175 is way overkill. You're going to have to raise that thing a good 12" above the aquarium as to not fry your softies. You're probably better off with some cheaper, more energy efficient PC lights.

[SeaSide]

My suggestion is a 150W DE for either 10G or 20G.
I use 150w DE over my 10G, and I like it.
I also think 150w DE is better than 175w SE. Check out those articles about MH here in reefcentral.

Some people consider 250w over 10 or 20G is too much... That's true... but, it really depends on what you want to keep in there. If you want your tank to be a SPS farm, go for it... Actually, a few members in reefcentral have 250w, even400w, on their 20G... For most softies, you don't need that much light. PC will do the job. 150w DE over 20G will do the job for almost all corals except some extremly light demanding SPSs.
Again, it really depends on what you're gonna keep in there.



Originally posted by swingdaddy
I'm planning on a 10 gallon (20 gal max) nano at my office.
Planning to do some colorful zoos and ricordia's as a base, and some plating and another type of sps. It'll have a substrate and a old wet/dry which i will use as a sump.

Any input for either a 175 or 250 metal halide (14K, so i don't have to use any actinics flourscents).

Thanks

[Steve973]

Yes, don't bother with a 175 since it's a single-ended bulb. The 150 dual-ended (DE) bulb will put out as much light. However, you don't need this for soft corals. It will allow you to keep SPS corals nicely. For a 14000K bulb, have a look at the Phoenix 150 watt bulb. It's AWESOME for the money (around $65)

Steve

[Cosmo^Kramer]

heres a great deal on a 70w retro setup
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46314&item=4351163019&rd=1

[Steve973]

That's $144, and it comes with a 10000K bulb. Plus, someone who uses that will need something suitable to retrofit... I'm not a big fan of the 70 watters.

[Jordan55]

You could go with the 70 watt HQi pendant at Hellolights.com. Why don't you like 70 watts?

[Steve973]

Availability and price of the bulbs vs 150 watt metal halide. It seems wiser to go with 150 in my opinion.

[Cosmo^Kramer]

It puts out a nice crisp white color,I'm real happy with the 70w.I picked up a 300w regent halide at HD for $9.99 and the 70w bulb fit right in the housing,it makes a great pendant

[swingdaddy]

Dear Fellow reefers,

Thanks for all your inputs and ideas.

[scarletknight06]

i saw a guy on nano reef this past summer that was running 2 70w MH's over a 10g (i think). one 10k and 20k. it looked awesome. wish i could find the thread again.