2 x 400 watt MH on a 75 gal

[kjord97]

Well while i was over my buddies house I was checking out his 90 gal set up. He has 2 x 400 watt MH 20k bulbs and 2 x 36" T-5s over his 90 gal and they look great. The tanks looks awsome. SO yesterday I took my 48 gal bowfront and 29 gal reef and combined them into a 75 gal. The only thing is I have to upgrade the lighting. My 48 gal bow had a 300 watt sunpod on it which gave it a 6.2 watt per gallon setting. Well I am now selling those lights and ordering all the parts for the 2 x 400 watt MH bulbs i am going to put on top. Pictures to come and If anyone has any coments on 800 watts over a 75 let me know.

 

[scsinet]

It's too much light IMO. 10.6wpg...
While it's entirely possible to keep a successful tank with that much light, and while it's also better than having not enough light, all this much light is going to do is waste electricity and almost guarantee that you are going to need a chiller. Any wattage above what your animals require to thrive is being wasted.
You also run the risk of having too much light for soft corals. If you are growing acros, etc then you'll be fine.
2x250 would be a much more appropriate lighting system for a 75g.

 

[gmax111]

Originally Posted by SCSInet
It's too much light IMO. 10.6wpg...
While it's entirely possible to keep a successful tank with that much light, and while it's also better than having not enough light, all this much light is going to do is waste electricity and almost guarantee that you are going to need a chiller. Any wattage above what your animals require to thrive is being wasted.
You also run the risk of having too much light for soft corals. If you are growing acros, etc then you'll be fine.
2x250 would be a much more appropriate lighting system for a 75g.
Ok i was wondering if i put the odyssea 760watt MH fixture above my 72g bow would that be too much light? It has 2x250W MH, 4x65W CF, and 6x LED.. Of course the CF's would be actinic..
I wanted 2 x 150watt MH but the only fixture that has that is the sunpod and it costs more then the odyssea one...
What do you think?
Sorry to hijack your thread...

 

[thangbom]

MH wattage depends on how tall,what bulb/k rating, and how high up you hang your light... some people hang a single 400 mh 10k XM over a 60 gal cube.. some even use 175 mh over a 10 gal.. it all depends on the whole setup.. i personally like 400 watters even tho it is kinda excessive.. but liek your friends tank.. he uses 20k bulbs which is way less par then a 10k.. ( this may be a reason why he uses a 400) my rule of thumb is if a tank is under 18'' you can use a 175 or some t5ho, 24'' and under can use a 250... ( if you do go 250 on a 24'' then i would only use 10k bulbs ) and anything els would be 400watter.. but thats just me..
HTH
YzGyz ohh and i would go with a EVC (ocean encounter i think ) MH retro kit... good price for a good unit

 

[thangbom]

just looked them up.. it's $189 for the whole kit!!!
YzGyz

 

[kjord97]

Here is the pics of the tank, i just set it up memorial day, i combined my old 48 gal and my 29 gal reefs to make it. Currently i have a the sunpod 2 x 150 mh 14k on it.
I already have the ballast and the moguel bases. I just purchased the reflector that I am going to use. The reflector will the moguel sockets riveted in place along with the end caps for the T-5s.
I also will be able to place 2 T-5s in there for the actinic dusk and dawn effect. I have been thinking about stepping the 400's during the day.
Due to haveing 910 watts over the tank, i was thinking of stepping the MH's to lower the wattage and still use the 400's to the best advantage. this would be my light schedule.
10pm till 10am - moon lights
10am- 10pm- T-5 54 watt Actinics x 2
12pm-430pm left 400 watt MH
33pm till 8pm right 400 watt mh
that would leave each 400watt mh on for 4 1/2 hours, but only both of them will be on for 1 hour. So they will get the full 800 watts for only 1 hour during the hottest part of day.

 

[05xrunner]

I run the odyssea 760w on my 75g
I run phoenix 14k bulbs and Coralvue ballast. I dont even use the PC anymore..just the MH since the 14k has a nice blue tint to it already

 

[zanoshanox]

get 250's you dont want 400s. Its not a very deep tank, 250's will be MORE than enough, 400's are just a waste. I'm sure the tank will look great.