i need MH lighting help ASAP

[pufferpoison]

ok i have to order within two days so here's the deal. I have a 46G bowfront and want MH's for the shimmer. I was looking at the aqua medic ocean light pendant 250W HQI but i don't know if i order it, how i will add antinics to the mix? i like some blue but not just a total blue tank. I don't have a canopy or anything and was going to leave it open. Any suggestions? maybe another setup? anything? also i want to see what a 14,000k bulb looks like also.

Is it a good idea to only have one 250W hqi setup ? it's a standard 46G bowfront.


Help, help help

[NCreefwannabe]

250 hqi is quite high for a 46 gallon. I would drop down to the 150. If you want actinics, look for a setup that has it all incased in a fixture.

[Sk8r]

The combined fixture is a good thing. I have 250 with actinics in a closed fixture for a 52, and it's pretty strong for bubble coral. Hammer and sps like it fine. My bulb is a 250w Ushio 10000, and it is quite yellow. The actinic double bulbs (2) bring it to a reasonable, pleasant color, and I have the actinics and the mh on separate timers for a slow wakeup.

[pufferpoison]

so what fixture? value and quality is what i'm looking for. Probably doesn't exist does it?

[Kluver]

what length is your tank size? If its a 36" length, then you should go with a current usa or coralife fixture to fit over the tank which has the MH and actinics combo.

[JR719]

If you can get a fixture with 10K bulbs and actinics you should be fine. I run 2 XM 250's and 2 URI super actinics and works good. I however don't have an all in 1 enclosure. Just personal pref I think. If you go 14K with actinics, it may be a little blue looking. Again, personal pref. If you start with 10K as a "white" point, the lower number will be yellow, and the higher will be blue. More actinic for the lower K value and less for higher. Make sense?
To sum up, if you get the 10K MH lights, get a couple of actinics to set it off a little. And think of the area for MH. They are good for aprox. 2X2' area. I run 250's on my 55 and no problems, plenty of light.
Hope this helped.

[JmLee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7447523#post7447523 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCreefwannabe
250 hqi is quite high for a 46 gallon. I would drop down to the 150. If you want actinics, look for a setup that has it all incased in a fixture.

i ran two 2x 250 hqi's on my 60gallon, no problems what so ever. Although i had a canopy also.

[pufferpoison]

ok i went to www.reefgeek.com to look at some mh retro's but their only offered on a SE bulb, and i want a HQI for sure. Need some website lighting links. I could make a canopy, my father is a carpender. see the problem is i wanted the aqua medic ocean light 250 HQI pendant, but thought some antinics would be great for a nice dust/dawn effect.

I'm so lost here. The more i search and research, the more lost i am. :(

[pufferpoison]

so about the aquamedic ocean light 250W fixture, it comes with either a 10,000k or 20,000k bulb. Will the ballast fire any type of 250W HQI bulb?

[JmLee]

i have two and i have the 15k XM bulbs ( which is crap btw, horrible color ) but still bright as hell, Any how im sure that ballasts will fire any bulb long as it is 250watt. Plus hellolights.com has great deals on them ( thats where i got mine ).

[davocean]

I've been checking this too lately.
I just went to an LFS that uses aquamedic pendants, a little too much blue for me.
They did have one that had a different bulb that was white, but employee didn't know what kind.
I like the idea of a 10k (whiter) MH combined w/ actinic PC's or VHO
This way you have flexibility.
I'm leaning towards reefstar MH 10k combined w/ my actinic PC's