PC or MH
- Thread starter hopkins6
- Start date
caillou
Member
If your getting new lighting. I'd spend the extra $$ now and go straight to MH. You'll still need some type of supplemental lighting for actinics. MH opens up a whole different world of the hobby for you. I started out with PC and after a year I made the jump to MH. It was a costly mistake on my part not going MH to begin with. I'd skip your LFS as far a buying them, LFS's IMO tend to be a little pricey when it comes to lighting. I'd do some searching online and at the auction site. If you buy online you'll probably end up with MH's at you LFS's PC price.
jobob
Member
metal halide, i was useing 4x55 and 2x65 on my 55gal. everything was growing great. now that i got halides, wow what a difference my corals are bigger and more colorful. i didnt think it would make that big of a differnce but it did!. i did a DIY canopy. so i got to use my old pc for the actinic. so i didnt really lose that much money. so i have 2x175mh and 2x55,2x65 actinic. looks great. and i did it for about $380. lol with 2 fans. yea def. look online. i got my mh on
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for $190 with bulbs. i did see a mh and vho combo on there for about $395 i think.
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for $190 with bulbs. i did see a mh and vho combo on there for about $395 i think.
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xnikki118x
Guest
Agree with jobob, his corals look amazing under the MH lights now. I didn't think they could get any better before!!
PC's are fine if you're only going to keep softies, but IMO, clams and hard corals will definitely NOT thrive under them. However, while softies can be kept beautifully under PC's, they look 10x better under MH lights.
Definitely go the extra mile.
PC's are fine if you're only going to keep softies, but IMO, clams and hard corals will definitely NOT thrive under them. However, while softies can be kept beautifully under PC's, they look 10x better under MH lights.
Definitely go the extra mile.
ncsc117
Member
Derasa Giant clams will survive over 175 watts of pc. go to www.clamsdirect.com for more info on clams. But the MH will give you some amazing COLOR. :happyfish
wax32
Active Member
I don't even want acros, but I am upgrading to MH so my zoos look better!
jobob: Was it hard to fit the reflectors for your MH AND 4 pc bulbs in your canopy? I have 4 VHO now, but I am thinking I will need to cut it down to only two bulbs to fit them under my canopy of my 75 gal, the width of which is 18".
jobob: Was it hard to fit the reflectors for your MH AND 4 pc bulbs in your canopy? I have 4 VHO now, but I am thinking I will need to cut it down to only two bulbs to fit them under my canopy of my 75 gal, the width of which is 18".
jobob
Member
my tank is a 55gal. well i had 2 18in spider reflectors for the mh. i ended up cuttin one into 2. and put one on each end pointing at each other. then i have 2x55 in the front with the reflectors in a line. pointing at each other. then for the 2x65 i got them in the middle between the mh. useing the mh reflectors. about 4in of them arent under a reflector. for the vho i think u mite be able to use the reflector from them for the mh. u mite have to get new end caps if u have the 2 hooked together ones. use the single ones so u can place them closer together. so u will have 2 VHO side by side and then the mh one on each end. then the other 2 vho. so the mh are in the middle. or u could use the mh reflector and get the uri bulbs with the reflectors inside them. even if u cant fit them 2vho should be enough actinic. when i have my mh on, u cant really see the actinic, but the 5050 makes the color more whiter. so 2 will work, 4 would be better. u can get enough light.lol
i havent seen my zoos look this good. i thought they were great with pc. now with mh, they got more color, and they filled in more(open bigger). i really didnt like the one zoo i got. the color was faint.(orange green,purple) now they are one of my favorite ones. lol
i havent seen my zoos look this good. i thought they were great with pc. now with mh, they got more color, and they filled in more(open bigger). i really didnt like the one zoo i got. the color was faint.(orange green,purple) now they are one of my favorite ones. lol
wax32
Active Member
I've got the URI VHO bulbs with the internal reflectors, so I am good there. I do have the dumb double endcaps. I think I'll be switching out to the single ones. Before I buy them I might physically put the bulbs alongside the MH to see if 2 bulbs will run along next to them on either side. I have a feeling they won't and I'll have to use just one bulb per side.
hopkins6
Member
For some actinic blue lighting. I already have a 48" flourescent fixture wich i'm already using for my dawn/dusk effect. Should I just use it for some actinic for the MH? Since alot of people on this site upgrade to MH, I think I will to save some money in the long run. thanks everybody.
golfish
Active Member
Originally Posted by hopkins6
The guy at my LFS (who knows what he's talkin bout) said I could probably keep clams and acropora if I got the PC lighting.
You could probably keep clams and acropora. The clams might or might not do well, the acros will probably live but wont grow very well and wont look good at all...I'd either do MH's or a combo of the two. 250 watt MH's would be best for your tank.
The guy at my LFS (who knows what he's talkin bout) said I could probably keep clams and acropora if I got the PC lighting.
You could probably keep clams and acropora. The clams might or might not do well, the acros will probably live but wont grow very well and wont look good at all...I'd either do MH's or a combo of the two. 250 watt MH's would be best for your tank.
jobob
Member
no not good at all. i got my bulbs, ballast,reflector,sockets, everything for $190 on
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. yes it was new. u could get a better one for $220, without bulbs. but are about $100. i ened up getting new ones, cause the ones it came with i didnt like the color.( to yellow). so i got 2 coralvue 10k. so its still only $320. thats $80 cheaper. i think the 250w are a little more. maybe 20-30 bucks. go online.
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. its cheaper than lfs. yea 10k with vho actinic. i personally dont like the 20k. its to blue for me. 10k is a nice white color.
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. yes it was new. u could get a better one for $220, without bulbs. but are about $100. i ened up getting new ones, cause the ones it came with i didnt like the color.( to yellow). so i got 2 coralvue 10k. so its still only $320. thats $80 cheaper. i think the 250w are a little more. maybe 20-30 bucks. go online.
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. its cheaper than lfs. yea 10k with vho actinic. i personally dont like the 20k. its to blue for me. 10k is a nice white color.
hopkins6
Member
But if you had to get new ones because you didn't like the color, you couldn't return them right, or could you? If you couldn't you would waste money. I think I should just get them at my lfs so I can see what color they are and I can return them easier. And my lfs guy gives us discounts. We made a purchase on our tank and he gave us discounts saving us about $40.
jobob
Member
well the bulbs were fine, but i only had one on, because one was broke, so u really could see the yellow. one side was mh and one was pc actinic. i think thats y i saw the yellow. but that was the only brand of bulbs he had. so while waiting for the replacement to come i bought new ones(couldnt wait). im sure if i had them both working it would have looked better. so now i got an extra set of bulbs!