250 vs 400.. Sooo many questions....

[dymaxiun]

I have a 24" tall display, and have a few questions since i shuld be purchasing my lights here in a few days.

Here is what i am set on so far..

2x(250 or 400) halides. (reason for thread)
2x 110wat atcinic supplementation

1. I want a 400w setup, but really will i use the bulbs to thier full capability?

2. Will a 250w halide work as well? par etc? compared to a 400w

3. Heat. How much hotter is the 400w compared to the 250's?

4. how much money will i be saving by going with 250's compared to 400's? Initial cost/operating cost/bulb replacemnet?

On a side note im not too sure how i will be purchasing these. i may go with a DIY setup, or possibly a retrofit turn key setup complete. Is that worth it? or should i DIY the whole thing? I can do electrical quite well so that isnt a problem... just with reflectors, precision aiming of bulbs etc....

Another canopy is being made since my current one is too close to the water surface.

Thanks in advance

[H2OLUVSME]

what are you planning on keeping?

[dymaxiun]

SPS... i am gonna go with the dual 250's.....

[thrlride]

Good choice on the 250's. I can't imagine the need of 400 watters on a 24" tank. The heat alone would be immense.

[H2OLUVSME]

i have 2 friends with 400s on 120s and neither have any trouble with heat.

[thrlride]

Really? I've got the 250's and don't have heat issues unless my fans aren't running.

How do they cool their tanks?

[dymaxiun]

I decided to do 250's.... for two reasons...

- Initial cost
- Heat

With the initial cost i'd then have to think about cooling the damn thing, and dont need my tank to get hot, and evap 5 gallons a day...

The extra cost is not necessary if it will cause additional problems..

With the money saved with the 250's i can get the calcium reactor i was postponing....

Thanks for yor input... Now to decide what type of bulbs....

I was looking at Aqualight 14k's but originally I wanted to get Hamilton 14k's but i can't seem to find the PAR of the hamiltons...

[thrlride]

Don't discount the 14k 250 watt phoenix DE's. They are a nice color and offer great PAR.

[dymaxiun]

Yeah the ballast I am going to be getting does haev the ability to run a DE bulb... But then we go back to the heat issue. Has there been any reviews on the DE 14k's?

[thrlride]

What ballast did you choose? The electronics really don't drive the DE's the way a HQI magnetic can.

You can go here to see tests with lots of bulbs including the phoenix 14k's

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

[dymaxiun]

ARO Ballast.. is there something i must have missed? OI thought they could run the DE bulbs...

[dymaxiun]

WOW the DE bulb on a completely same setup had better par by far....

[thrlride]

Not familar with the ARO. I have the M80 ballast for mine.

[dymaxiun]

I was looking at the IceCap 250 also.... Seems that that is decent ballast....

[thrlride]

The icecaps are good but you will sacrifice the output of the bulb some. I believe the tests show that.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by thrlride
Really? I've got the 250's and don't have heat issues unless my fans aren't running.

How do they cool their tanks?

they cool their tanks with fans. im sure they would have trouble without running them. one guy has had his for months now. his canopy is almost totally enclosed. he has four 2" holes in the back of the canopy. he has two 4" fans on top blowing in. he has a 30 gallon sump with a fuge light lit 24 hours.

since he had no problems my other friend got him to build his canopy almost identical. he has a 40 gallon breeder for a sump and also has no heat problems. his tank has only been running for a few weeks, and has only been run with 12 hours of lighting a few times. he says it hasnt been above 80 with the fans on yet.

both of them have a target of just under 80*. Jimmy (set up for a while) is holding 79-80* temps, so Rick doesnt think hell have any trouble doing the same.

[H2OLUVSME]

oih yeah Jimmy gets about 1-1.5 gallons of evap a day, which he replaces with an auto top-pff of RO. he adds 1 gallon of kalk a week.

[thrlride]

That's awesome! I can't get mine below 81 with the fans on. What temp are they keeping the fish rooms?

[dymaxiun]

So back to the topic... where did you all get your lights from? Online or LFS?