lighting annoyance...help asap please

gio28

gio28

Active Member
so after wasting $100 on PC lights for my tank
...i see metal halides for the same price somewhere else.
i have a 36 bowfront and want to keep basically every type of coral possible. i just dont know which fixture to buy. the two choices are:
150W+ Metal Halide Pendant Light with T5 or a
250W+ Metal Halide Pendant Light with T5
i want to keep mushrooms, softies, polyps, LPS, SPS...so i dont know if i should get the 150W or 250W cause i dont want to totally overlight my mushrooms but at the same time not underlight my SPS/LPS. which one would you buy for a 36 gallon tank?
i dont want to miss out on this deal...so if you could give me your opinion asap i would really appreciate it. thanks.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i think the 250 will be better..just want to make sure.
i could place the mushrooms on the bottom and work my way up to the top of my tank to the LPS and SPS corals.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Originally Posted by gio28
http:///forum/post/3082784
so after wasting $100 on PC lights for my tank
...i see metal halides for the same price somewhere else.
i have a 36 bowfront and want to keep basically every type of coral possible. i just dont know which fixture to buy. the two choices are:
150W+ Metal Halide Pendant Light with T5 or a
250W+ Metal Halide Pendant Light with T5
i want to keep mushrooms, softies, polyps, LPS, SPS...so i dont know if i should get the 150W or 250W cause i dont want to totally overlight my mushrooms but at the same time not underlight my SPS/LPS. which one would you buy for a 36 gallon tank?
i dont want to miss out on this deal...so if you could give me your opinion asap i would really appreciate it. thanks.

I went with 175W right in the middle. I also have caves so I can have corals that don't care for much light at all. If all you ever wasted was $100.00 you are doing GREAT.
Even used MH lights are running around $600.00 here in my area. I paid $1000.00 for retrofit lights, a year after paying $600.00 for PC lights. I bought them new, but still if I had gotten the best lights to begin with I would have been better off.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
Odyssea is the brand. my PC lights are this brand also and i like them...its just that i need more light if i want to keep all my corals i want. i can get the Odyssea 150W+ Metal Halide Pendant Light with T5 for $100. its cheap but since i know the brand and that they have a great sales record i am going with it probably.
so 150watt metal halide+ 28 watt of actinic (t5 HO) is good enough for any type of coral i want as long as i place them accordingly? SPS on top...mushrooms on bottom?
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
also...how high do you recommend the MH to be away from my glass top and tank? 6"-12"?
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
if its that brand, u might want to go with 250w mh, since the ballast that comes with it doesnt really push out all the lights from the bulbs.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
ok i will definitely consider that. for $30 more i am sure the 250watt one wont be a problem for me to buy. im just concerned that 250MH+28 HO actinic lights are too much for a 36 gallon that will also have mushrooms. SPS LPS will be happy but i dont want to totally blast the mushrooms with light. would the 250 be ok?
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
the shrooms u can always place on the sandbed. i'd be more concern with heat generated by the mh fixture. make sure to change to a better bulb shortly afterward.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
what do you mean exactly by change to a better bulb?
and the fixture comes with an external fan and legs to give it some space from the tank...but i will do a mod to the legs to make them go higher. hopefully this will cut down on heat.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
the bulb that comes with it is not of the good type. by switching to a better bulbs, u get better color and par.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I though there, at least was, a concern about the quality of the ballast on Oddysea MH lighting Nycbob, do you have any information that you could share about that? No on hand experience here with it, just some things I have read.
 
patrick8929

patrick8929

Active Member
Originally Posted by gio28
http:///forum/post/3083072
ok i will definitely consider that. for $30 more i am sure the 250watt one wont be a problem for me to buy. im just concerned that 250MH+28 HO actinic lights are too much for a 36 gallon that will also have mushrooms. SPS LPS will be happy but i dont want to totally blast the mushrooms with light. would the 250 be ok?
i have 6 18watt T5 HO bulbs over a 6 gallon nano cube i wouldnt worry about to much light. like the others have said you can place low light corals on the sand bed. i agree with spanko on this one you might want to think about upgrading on the ballast
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3083521
I though there, at least was, a concern about the quality of the ballast on Oddysea MH lighting Nycbob, do you have any information that you could share about that? No on hand experience here with it, just some things I have read.
never had that fixture b4. but from what i can find on the web, it says the ballast is not that great.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
id rather not buy a MH at all but its just that i dont know if my 130 watt PCs are strong enough to keep mushrooms, softies, polyps, and LPS. my tank like i said is 36 gallons. the bulbs on my PCs are 65 actinic, 65 10,000K. if i place the corals accordingly... mushrooms on bottom, LPS on the top... can i keep them? i know that PCs are good for softies, mushrooms, and polyps...but i really want a few LPS as well.
 
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