time for mh

[tabndust]

now its time to purchase some lights. do i want electronic or magnetic ballasts? how many and what size for 75g reef? are mh best choice for lighting reef? rather buy right stuff first time.

[Jetfuel]

Have the perfect lights for you and there for sale :)

[tabndust]

^

[szwab]

what are you planning on keeping in your tank?

[tabndust]

mostly just soft corals, and a couple small fish

[szwab]

for softies MH are necessarily needed they would do the job but you could also look into VHO or t5's. If you do MH you'd need 2 they usually illuminate a 2'x2' area (depending on your reflector) Electronics will run pretty much any bulb. Magnetics will be cheaper initially but more $$ per month. In Ohio not that much sice electricity is relatively cheap. It would probably take about 4-5 years to show a savings. Chek out this thread it is really informative:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=590771

[szwab]

if at some point you think you may want to try sps or clams I would skip the 175's and get 250's. it will save you some money by not having to upgrade later. They are not much more tan 175's in initial cost.

[tye_c]

Or if you are thinking about upgrading to a bigger tank in the future go with the 400's now. There are a few people on here incliding me that run 2 400's on a 75.

Tye

[TacoKing]

You're just crazy running 400's on a 75 :)

[hollback]

Originally posted by tye_c
Or if you are thinking about upgrading to a bigger tank in the future go with the 400's now. There are a few people on here incliding me that run 2 400's on a 75.

Tye

Do you have to run a chiller?

[tye_c]

No Chiller:D I have a fan on each end of the canopy blowing on the halides. I can take some pics if you like. I will be getting a new camera today. :D

Tye

[ohioreef]

I am currently running 3-110W VHOs on my 75g. I have mushrooms, zoanthids, xenia, several leathers, frogspawn (LPS), candy coral (LPS) and a montipora cap (SPS), all of which are doing very well under the VHOs.

As far as magnetic vs electronic, I am running 1 mag and 1 electronic and the mag runs a whole lot hotter than the electronic. You may want to consider that factor as well.

[asnatlas]

Originally posted by tye_c
No Chiller:D I have a fan on each end of the canopy blowing on the halides. I can take some pics if you like. I will be getting a new camera today. :D

Tye

I would like to see pics... I am only running dual 250s HQIs on my 92gal bow... I am thinking about running 4x 400w in L3 reflectors over my 600gal (96x48x30)... I was going to try to get away with 250s but with the 30" depth, I don't think I would be able to keep SPS / Clams well....

Shawn

[Rockker]

MH = shimmer

nuff said. The shimmer makes it all worth while

[tabndust]

i agree because the shimmer in your tank is why i want them

[tabndust]

i also want a few leathers and stuff, no hard corals. so 2x 250's is what i think im going with. are there any benefits with vho's or t5's

[thebrian]

Originally posted by tye_c
There are a few people on here incliding me that run 2 400's on a 75.


800 Watts on a 75g, now that's my kind of lighting :) I run 150w on my 12g, and will be running 70w on my 5.2g I'm building.
~Brian

[tye_c]

800 watts is not including the VHO's. That would make it 1240 watts:eek1: :eek1:

[asnatlas]

Originally posted by tye_c
800 watts is not including the VHO's. That would make it 1240 watts:eek1: :eek1:

I will be running a total of 2150w over my 600gal :)

Shawn

[tye_c]

Nice:eek1: :eek1:

[tabndust]

thats some wattage

[tabndust]

what is the SE, DE that i keep seeing

[tye_c]

Single ended or Double ended. Both are types of MH bulbs.

Tye:)

[thebrian]

SE = Single Ended/Mogul Socket
DE = Double Ended/Bracket Mount

DE bulbs put out much more light than equivalent wattage SE. DE bulbs, however lack a second layer of glass to protect from UV, so it is necessary to have a UV glass shield with them, whereas it's not necessary with a SE bulb.

DE bulbs are available in 70w, 150w, 250w, and now 400w.
SE bulbs are available in 175w, 250w, 400w, and 1000w.

Hope this helps.
~Brian

[szwab]

that's where the ballast choice comes in...

electronics should fire both bulbs need to go with an HQI magnetic ballast for DE bulbs