MH Lighting Thread CONTINUED!

shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
Due to some carless flaming my going good thread was taken away, so here is the new one!
Also forget that whole place for MH for 16.00$ they were too expensive, I got an email from them today, and their bulbs for 10,000K were 140$!!! so FORGET THAT!! YEAH!
lol, ok so here was my last question that would really help me with the whole Metal Halide understanding area!:
Reefer YOU ARE RIGHT, I had no idea you were 16, im 17 in 3 months about to be 18, WOW, this is cool, I had no idea other "teenagers" where deaply into this stuff LOL!
anyway, I have a BEAUTIFUL THRIVING 75 gallon soft, stony and sps coral tank that has been going to 7 years now!
I have a Leather ( i know that is a LONG way from SPS) that is over 1 and a half feet in width and length!
Not to mention I have a Lob. Brain that I have had for 5 years that has been taken out of the water, smashed banged up , broken and torn so many times I cant even count, and that is the best looking LOB. BRAIN I have EVER SEEN, even in anyones tank on this thread!!!!
I also have grown a Pipe organ from a SINGLLLLLEEE POLYP!!!!! NO KID, It can on the back of that brain I was just talking about, one tiny little polyp that is now a THRIVING 4 layered white and green polyed 5.5 inch wide by 6 inch long by 4 inch tall gorgeous pipe organ!!!
I also have sooo many purple and carribean green and blue mushrooms I dont even know what to do with them, several, (approx. 20= heads of Pulsing Xenia), also, I have a wels. brain, a nice Blastomussa that has grown CONCIDERABLY since I got it, lots of beautiful green polyped zoos, a nice growing everyday 4inch Hydnophora, so much Cabbage leather than I know what to do with, lots of hairy mushrooms, a rock *not Ap. Anemone* anemone that has been through so much h*** I cant even tell you all of it !.... and Live rock that can kick anyones BUTT on this thread, I have some of the rarest RED CORALINE and BLUE TONGA CORALINE thriving in this system than a wholesaler could know what to do with!... I got this red coraline from a LFS in SAKS here in Alabama, the ONLY rock Ive ever seen with it on there, and not to also mention The other week I was rearranging some of my rock and found a HUGE fist sized yellow ball sponge that had been growing under the liverock on the far left side of the aquarium!... TAKE THAT ALL YOU SPONGE PEOPLE LOL... I didnt even know the thing was in there!!!
lol, And now I want to grow SPS corals, and by golly, if there is a will in my heart there is MOST CERTAINLY a way THAT I WILLLLLL FINNDDDD!!!!!
wow, that was a speach to remember LOL!!!
anyway, so, I have decided to go with MH lighting, I have found several retro kits but and having problems with figuring out some things like what Kelvin I want
so to all you MH people here are some serious questions for you!!!!
First let me discribe what I want in my tank
I would like a nice natural lighting color look, with a hint of blue, not too overbearing but a nice touch of blue that you can obviously see...
SO, I am wanting to get 2 DIY kit, with 250watt bulbs in it, however I dont know what K to get!
The one I am looking at now is 6500K bulb with a Mogul Socket... I have NOOOO idea what this means, and I need to understand the MH lighting in order to pic the best lighting for my tank so basically what I am asking is could someone, like Bang or NMReef for someone who has serious experience with there bulbs to basically lay out a very easy to read chart for the MH kelvins and watts
I am wanting 2 DIY kits with 250 Watt bulbs in it, or I could somehow rewire my VHO to only have 2 VHO bulbs and in between have the 2 MH, and the MH would be (2) 175 watt bulbs, which is what I want to do!
and this should give me 7.6WPG, would this be too much on a 75 gallon aquarium????? OR I COULD just get rid of the VHO's and just use the MH, and sell the VHO!!! Or should I get 2 DIY kits with 250Watt Bulbs in it, that way I would have 6.6WPG, or would that be too much, Right now with my VHOS I have 5.8 WPG!
SOOOOOO, Please lay out a really easy to read MH Kelvin scale like
### K is (# of watts) which is (this kind of blue)
understand?
something to that effect!!! ALSO, is a XM 250Watt 10,000K MH bulb a really white bulb... I want that light tinge of blue, so I would probably need to go with maybe 250watt 14,000K MH Bulb from Hamilton
Also, what is the difference in bulbs between Hamilton, XM, sunburst, Mega chrome, aqualine, Ushio, Iwasaki, or Venture?>?????
PLEASEE EXPLAIN THAT AS WELL, and what brand do you recommend??????????????????????
I want the more white with a tiny tinge of blue for the tank, so what I am thinking is maybe a 10,000 or a 12,000K
Iduno please help!!!!!!
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SERIOUS PATIENCE!!!!
 
mpls man

mpls man

Active Member
I think it alll depends on whether you want 250 mhs or 175 mhs (on my 75 gal i have 2-175 10.000 k mhs and 2-96 watt actinics) with 175 14.000k you will get a little more blue, and you can probally go with a 55 watt actinics, my total watts are 532 watts, you can also do a search on calculation of watts, just some things to check into.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I missed your first thread, and am not sure if I can remember all of your questions in this one but I will try. First a mogul base is the screw in socket, only bigger. The base of the bulb looks like the ones in your household lamps only bigger.
As far as K ratings, here's the easiest way I can explain it...
Bulbs have a color spectrum, (ROYGBIV) the lower your K rating the closer to the red side of the spectrum. 6500K will emit more green and yellow which are beneficial to green plants like grass...and algae. The higher K you go, the more blue light is emited. A 20K looks (to me) on the verge of actinic, 10K looks like pure white IMO. Using only MH's, you would want about 14K to get that slight blue tint, or 10K with VHO actinics.
The 6500K's are usually the cheapest bulbs, they are definately not the most beneficial to your corals who will need more "blue" wavelenths.
 
daceman89

daceman89

Member
can you post a pic of yor tank, Also i would think it would be base on watt kind of sps you would like to keep. I personally would go with two 250hqi MH bulbs with either your vho actinics or pc actinics In a 75gallon i had 2 250 hqi 10k bulbs with two 96 watt power compacts and the color was great. you can keep just about anything in there.
 
T

tizzo

Guest

Originally posted by daceman89
I personally would go with two 250hqi MH bulbs with either your vho actinics or pc actinics
10 or 14K...
perfect!:yes:
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Why go with just MH bulbs?
I've got the 250 Ushio's and actinic blues as well as 50/50 bulbs.
I like the look it gives my tank. The Ushio 10000k gives a crisp white look and the actinics and 50/50's add the blue.
Go for a MH/VHO combo.
 
stuckinfla

stuckinfla

Active Member
OT - Thomas everytime I look at your avtar (i know its a nudi) I keep thinking some deep sea monster with blue goggles!!

You already have PC set-up? Go with 2x250 10k and put Actinic in the PC...... JMO. Kinda what I have, and I like the dusk dawn with the actinics, plus the actinics & 10k offer (what I think) is a very natural color. Not glaring white - not to blue.
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP, INCLUDING THE REPLYERS ON THE OTHER THREAD!!!.. really you have all helped me veryyy much!
also, thanks for explaining the Light Spectrum the way you did Tizzo, that explained it perfectly!
Now, yes I have decided to go with the E Ballast and Ushio 10,000K with 2 blue actinics VHO.... I will have 2 175watt MH 10K and 2 Actinics VHO 110Watt.. which will give my tank a good 7.6WPG, do you think this WPG is too high, should I go with a lower watt VHO?
anyway
so its decided, I can get the retrofit fixture for 350$ so far.. which isnt bad IMO, what do you all think????
I personally would go with two 250hqi MH bulbs
Thanks but no thanks, the HQI double ends have too much of a tendency to explode for me! LOL!!!
but thats for your oppinion
On the Ushios, single end 175 watt, would the 10,000 K be good???... what about XM's?..... a 20,000 is a nice blue color, so I might go with it!
what do you all think!!!???!!!???!
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
UPPS forgot, I am wanting to grow about every and any kind of SPS I can afford to, also I will have soft and LPS corals in the tank as well!.. trust me I can make this work out!
lol, If I have a good wpg, but not to high is what i mean!
I now have a Orange Monti dig, a red Monti dig, a orange Monti Cap, and a hydnophora, and just picked up a type of Pagoda cup today, I THINK! I will post a pic and let you all figure what kind it is, all I know is its awsome!!!
 
caillou

caillou

Member
Not trying to hijack the thread but it may be a benificial question to you as well. I've been doing some serious looking recently at MH. I am a lighting idiot though. I'd like to do but not spend 1000's doing it. So I'm thinking to myself...I'm a builder, why not ask my electrician about it. Of course he knows nothing about aquarium lighting but knows a lot about MH's . He tells me I can get a universal MH ballast at the supply house for about $75 for a 250 watt. Being universal I don't need to worry about the matching the bulb to the ballast as long as I stay with the same amount of watts. I'd obviously get the correct MH bulbs for tank. Does anyone have anything positive or negative to say about this? If he's right I could put together a 2 x 250 MH system for about $300. Thanks for starting the thread, I've been searching the archives for most of the info that's been posted on it.
 
nitram

nitram

Member
stuckinfla
.
and I like the dusk dawn with the actinics
what is the dusk dawn with the actinics thing you are doing to your tank or how do you do this.
 
shoreliner11

shoreliner11

Active Member
Shawnts106, glad you decided to go with mh. I have the 20k xm 250w de bulb with no actinic supplementation. IF you went with the 20k xm you would have to get an hqi ballast if I'm not mistaken. So if you're stuck with the electronic ballast I'd say go with your vho's and the 10k bulbs. Regarding softies,lps, and sps in the same tank, it can be done with relative ease BUT, there needs to be ample space between corals, especially those who can send out sweeper tentacles. You'd be surprised how toxic certain soft corals are. Often times its a losing battle for sps.
Nitram- the dawn dusk effect is simply turning off the 10k or daylight bulb and leaving the actinic on for a while after. This is so the corals get a simulated dusk effect.
Caillou-I know I've seen the answer to your question but being not 100% sure myself I can't say it'll work for sure. I imagine its just a standard electronic ballast which will limit your choice of bulbs but hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
bigdjp

bigdjp

Member
Caillou,
If you do a search in the DIY forum I typed up detailed instuctions on how to do exactly what your talking about. If your friend is an Electician then he should be able to explain anything in my post that you my not understand. It is very do- able and tp me pretty inexpensive. I did a 2X250W MH setup for I think around $300.00 including bulbs. Let me see if I can find that thread for ya.
Here it is:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...ghlight=DIY+MH
 
shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
you went with the 20k xm you would have to get an hqi ballast if I'm not mistaken
No you can still use a E Ballast, we have a tank at work with an e ballast and 250s on there!
also, 20,000K
I am very aware of what you said:
Regarding softies,lps, and sps in the same tank, it can be done with relative ease BUT, there needs to be ample space between corals, especially those who can send out sweeper tentacles.
I have lots and lots of softies, LPS and some sps in the tank now, they are all fine, and each coral has been placed acording to its specific needs in Lighting, water movement and aggression!
I do not really have any hard corals that have long sweeper tentacles at the moment, besides a 2 inch bubble that has nothing near it!
Thanks for your concern!
 
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