Another lighting question

[coralfishg2]

I know, I know....you guys have to get tired of answering all the lighting question's, but so far I think the lighting of the tank, is one of toughest dicision's. well anyway's, I have the oppertunity to add two 175w MH magnetic ballasts. one 175w 10,000k and 1 175w 5,000k. all for 200$ that includes the sockets and reflectors. is that a good deal, and will I be able to keep most corals. My goal is to be able to keep sps, and soft. so pretty much all corals...also what is the difference in magnetic and electric ballasts. will there be a affect in the brightness of the light's and will the light's last as long as they whould if they were on a electric ballasts. sorry about all the question's but I hope someone can help. thank you all

 

[ren]

I know electronic is more effecient and I think the bulbs last longer with them. All around best to use electronic.
$200.00 include everything? bulbs ballasts sockets and reflectors? I think its a good deal - I spent $120 for my VHO bulbs alone.

 

[predator]

The bulbs will last longer if run of a electronic ballest. And yes that is a good deal. I'm about to buy some mh's myself and wish I could find a deal like that!!! You will be able to keep most corals with that lighting on a 75.

 

[ren]

ohh 1 last note - think that you will need to supplement with some actinic -pc or VHO. Don't think the MH's cover that. you can see the actinic effects with/without/and alone in my pics below.

 

[coralfishg2]

thank you guys for the help. I was planning on adding two, possibly four vho actinics..thanks for the pics. what type of ballast are you running those uri super actinics on, and how much did the vho set up cost.

 

[ren]

well there is a ongoing debate on the ballasts I'm running. I'm running super cheap GE electronic ballasts. Amperage provided is more than icecap provides. Some say that the GE ballasts will only run at HO levels but I switched from HO bulbs and noticed the difference. thinking that the only way to settle it will be to find a lumens tester and test the output lol