metal halide

devaji108

devaji108

Member
Lighting question!
I have a 90 gal. Reef in the making!
I need to upgrade from my odyssea 2x65W & 2x 65W act. Blue PCs to MH
How many Watts of power do I need? is there a rule to go buy?
I intend to have anemones, shrooms etc.
Any advice on bulbs?
Should I still use my PCs? :thinking:
All so I have a used ice cap ballets w/ no wiring that came with the aquarium.
Can I get a harness kit and a reflector w/ bulb???
Don’t know what 2 do :help:
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
id recommend u doing 2-250W MH's over your tank.... i run 20K Double Ended bulbs with pendants under my canopy and still use the 2-65W 10K PC lights along with another T-5 bulbs.... 20K's are a lil blue and the 10K's helped even it out....
depending on if u have a canopy or not u should either get retrofit style MH's or a complete hood system
another issue your going to come across is heat.... when i upgraded to my MH's i bought a chiller also.... u will most likely i mean 99.99% most likely need a chiller to keep your tank cool.... its worth the investment if your going serious your going to need one one day...
u can probably use the ballast just check out to make sure what it goes to as long as its the right one for the right style and wattage of light
 
devaji108

devaji108

Member
Hey Murph,
what about one 400 W MH over the anemone and still use the PCs?
I was thinking that heat would be an issue. any advice on chillers?
thanks
Deva
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
what are the dimmensions of the tank??
i think for better coverage and a more uniform look ud be better off getting the 2 MH bulbs id try the 250's but u might be able to get away witrh some 175's depending on the depth of ur tank....
as for anemones the 250's would be fine
i have kept anemones under PC and MH they deffinately do much better under MH right now i just keep one BRTA in my 100 g tank and it keeps growing and growing...
i run 500W of 20K MH along with another 180W of PC-T-5 combo
heres a pic to show u the lighting color and what i keep
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
i have about 2000 - 2500 gallon per hour of movement in my tank currently.... using returns and some strategically placed power heads lol
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
well i hear 10K is best for growth... then i hear 14Ks and 15K's dont have the same par as a 10K or a 20K so they dont penetrate as well
20K shows colors off the best.... depending on what u want it just depends
i have some decent growth in my sps corals with great color using my 20K MH plus 10K PC combo
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
yeah it wouldnt look right ud have one zone with a yellow tint and the other zone with a blue tint u wont be happy with the effect...
what are u looking to keep?? only anemones??
if so id be more concerned with its color so id go with the 20K's ull be happy
 
ryansholl

ryansholl

Member
FYI, I've been running 2 400w 10k metal halides and a 38w actinic t5 about ten inches over my 75 gallon aquarium for a couple months. Wish I had 175s or 250s, as I run one MH bulb from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the other from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. with the actinic on for two hours before and after the MHs are on and get about 4 degrees rise in temp every day, which is dissipated at night no problem. The setup's dandy with me, as I built the hood with a future, much larger, and much deeper aquarium in mind. Also, as an excuse I have a morning/afternoon/evening lighting scheme (just like real life, right ;) )
Also, I have two sheets of 1/4 inch glass between the lights and the water and two 4" fans pushing air from one end of the hood to the other. This setup does wonders for cooling, but as I said I still get a substantial increase in water temp.
My point I guess is don't go nuts with the lighting. I'm well across the line with my 2 metal halides and no chiller. To have all the lights on for ten hours I'd need a chiller to drop the tank >10 degrees each day, not worth the cost nor the effort of building a chiller, IMO.
Murph, what kind/size of chiller do you use? Just curious.
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
i have an aqua-via CC-50 which is there 1/3 hp model
not knowing before but having been pointed out more recently that since this is an asian model of a chiller its wattage is much less than competing chillers rated with the same power.... it only has 340W of usage while other chillers run around 800W it works decently to keep the tank where i need it and i also run 4 3" cpu fans in the canopy blowing air out and without the chiller my tank would be fried
 
ktsdad

ktsdad

Member
I have 4 retrofits under my hood.
Each unit has a 250MH (10K) and 2x65 PC (7300).
I have 4 (90mm) fans blowing into the canopy, 4 (90mm) fans sucking air out of the canopy, and a JBJ DBM-250 1/3hp chiller.
My lighting schedule is like this -
PCs on at 11AM, 1st MH on at 1Pm, 2nd MH on at 1:30, 3rd MH at 2pm and 4th on at 2:30.
First MH off at 7pm, 2nd at 7:30, 3rd at 8 and 4th at 8:30 then PCs off at 9:30pm.
I have my chiller set for 80 so it won't run as often as other. Tank inhabitants don't seem to mind the warmer temp, softies and fish so far.
Photos for your enjoyment.....


 
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