2x175 MH Enough on a 75?
- Thread starter zeroc
- Start date
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by ScubaNoah
as long as you have some good reflectors and keep them higher up in the tank you will be fine.
Yeah you should be okay... just.
If you haven't bought yet, (2) 250s would be a more suitable system, but what you have should work. Be sure also to stick to a strict 1yr replacement cycle, as the fading of the lamps over time will have a significant impact on your livestock since you don't have much wiggle room.
as long as you have some good reflectors and keep them higher up in the tank you will be fine.
Yeah you should be okay... just.
If you haven't bought yet, (2) 250s would be a more suitable system, but what you have should work. Be sure also to stick to a strict 1yr replacement cycle, as the fading of the lamps over time will have a significant impact on your livestock since you don't have much wiggle room.
stanlalee
Active Member
If you stick with the appropriate PAR bulbs that will be fine. I dont think you need particularly great reflectors ($50 PFO, Reef optix, coralvue batwings will be fine as 4ft of coverage for 2 SE bulbs isn't particularly challenging) nor do I think you need to keep anything THAT high up in the tank. Most of my acropora are midway in the tank. Only my crocea clam and blue ORA staghorn are up a little higher and under the bulbs. my green and duller color acro do fine mid level many even coloring up there from when I got them and superman, green digita and cap monti all do fine on the bottom as does my deresa clam. The main thing you need to do (besides flow and water quality of course) is stick with the proven high PAR 175 watt bulbs (those would be Iwasaki 15k, aquamedic 10000 13k, Ushio 10 or 14k, XM 10k, Hamilton 10k per sanjay testing). note NONE of the above are blue by any means. at best they are white with no yellow or the slightest hint of blue. you will need supplements to make the tank bluer with any of the above though they are not needed for my preference.
people dont seem to realize a good 175w 10k-15k set up outperforms a simular 250w 20k set up easily in most cases so if a 175w 10k set up isn't sufficient neither will most 20k 250w set ups (which is quite common for SPS tanks). for example a 175w XM 10k on an ice cap ballast produced a PPFD (think a simular measurement to PAR) of 70 while a 250w 20k XM bulb on the same brand ice cap ballast only produced a PPFD of 53 and this is the norm not atypical as all the bulbs above produce at least that much and most 20k 250w bulbs dont.
people dont seem to realize a good 175w 10k-15k set up outperforms a simular 250w 20k set up easily in most cases so if a 175w 10k set up isn't sufficient neither will most 20k 250w set ups (which is quite common for SPS tanks). for example a 175w XM 10k on an ice cap ballast produced a PPFD (think a simular measurement to PAR) of 70 while a 250w 20k XM bulb on the same brand ice cap ballast only produced a PPFD of 53 and this is the norm not atypical as all the bulbs above produce at least that much and most 20k 250w bulbs dont.