new lighting

[951michael]

Hello, I have some coral and fish in a 36 gallon and am looking to upgrade to help the life more. I was looking at purchasing a marineland marine pro lighting at 24" with one 150 watt metal halide and with four 24w actinic bulbs with 2 leds. Cost for this bad boy is 550 dollars though. OUCH! Would this be the best light for this setup though.

 

[deejeff442]

i would go with a 250 watt but i have kept corals in my 4 foot 90 gallon with two 175 mh bulbs .now they are under 3 250 watters and seem to like it alot more.$550 seems a bit high for a single mh fixture.might want to shop around

 

[florida joe]

yea they are not cheap BUT i run the 60" and love it
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/377213/out-with-the-old

 

[951michael]

Got any other fixture recommendations. For some reason I can't find anything else, and I am usually good at finding stuff. Thanks

 

[deejeff442]

found an aqua medic light 250 watt mh with 2 24watt t5's for $430
not too sure on the quality of it but looks nice.just google metal halide lights aquarium and there are a bunch of places.
i bought a system on the bay 3 250 watt mh and 4 96 watt compacts 60" for $650 but i wouldnt recomend it .it works fine but not too sturdy.but once its in place it dont matter.i realy didnt want to spend $1200 on lights.now i am going to get me an 8 foot tank by next fall i wont need it.thinking of pendants for that one.
all comes down to budget.

 

[951michael]

Do I really need the t5's. The aqua medic's have a 250 watt mh for 300 dollars. Thats more in my spending area but will spend the extra for the t5's if needed. Thanks for helping

 

[nikesb]

t5's will help you get a nicer color along with a nice 250w bulb

 

[deejeff442]

plus you would run the t5's loner in the day than the mh.i run my pc's 12 hrs and the mh for 7.

 

[951michael]

With that aquamedics mh with t5 should I go with a 10000 or 14000 bulb. Sense I will have the actinics they should impart a blue tint but I am getting mixed recommendations on what I should get for the metal halides. Thanks.

 

[nikesb]

14k pheonix with 1 kz fiji purple, 2 super actinic, 1 true actinic. that will make up for the lack of 420nm peak in the pheonix bulb

 

[951michael]

Sorry it took me awhile to get back. I had to go on vacation.
Hello nikeSB,
I am not sure if I am reading that correct but you have 4 fluorescent bulbs listed there while only 2 are provided in that fixture. Perhaps I am reading it wrong though. Just like fixtures there is a myriad of bulbs to choose from to the point I get confuuuuuuuuuuuuuused. Thanks

 

[nikesb]

oh ok, i didnt know which fixture you were going with. i thought the aquamedic fixture had 4 t5's. in that case, 2 KZ super blues should be put in

 

[d-man]

what are you going to keep? I had a current light with 4 t5s, 96w total on a 30g and could keep pretty much anything, but acros. 250w seems like a lot to me.

 

[951michael]

That was quick,
I am having a hard time finding those 2 kz super blues but perhaps it is because I am purchasing off of ***********.com. Can I use another brand or are those the ideal ones to get. Thanks as always

 

[nikesb]

marine depot doesn't carry ati or korallen-zucht. I'd purchase from another place to get them instead. you can always get geissemans

 

[meowzer]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 951Michael http:///forum/thread/381984/new-lighting#post_3332613
That was quick,
I am having a hard time finding those 2 kz super blues but perhaps it is because I am purchasing off of ***********.com. Can I use another brand or are those the ideal ones to get. Thanks as always
why not try buying them elsewhere

 

[951michael]

Hello D-man,
I was using 4 t-5s before I switched over to a 250 metal halide, and I have to say the addition of the metal halide was amazing. With this purchase I will be getting 2 more fluorescents, but that is only 48 watts so it should matter much. Thanks

 

[951michael]

I believe this should work http://www.exoticreefonline.com/24w-Super-Blue.html . Would have preferred to purchase on one site if I could. Thanks

 

[meowzer]

You're not supposed to post competitors links.....otherwise we all would have listed where to get them from....LOL

 

[951michael]

OH, I didn't know that moewzer.
Hello D-man, I used to have 4 t-5's on this 36 gallon but upgraded to a 250 watt metal halide, and I have to say the improvement was amazing. That fixture broke probably because it was a cheap no brand one. This time I was going to get a better quality fixture. The one listed here does have 2 extra fluorescent lights on it than the one before, but I doubt the extra 48 watts will be hurtful to it. Thanks