SPS reef lighting....What to do??

[crzyfshygy]

I have a 65gl mixed reef...mostly SPS though. I am going to buy a canopy for the tank and was wondering what would be a good set up for it!!! Halides of course.

 

[fanker]

well i see u live in florida and if u get mh u might need a chiller. and if u want to save money and energy and get a great result try t-5s try the tek 6x54w fixture

 

[kstater]

Just get a couple 175s or 250s and place them 10'' above the tank and you will do fine without a chiller as long as there are fans in your canopy.

 

[crzyfshygy]

Thanks! My question is what brand of reflector is best along with the ballast and mogule. Also what bulb and what brand and what k rating. :notsure:

 

[laddy]

2 x 250 10k MH with Reef Optix and Icecap ballast, would be my vote.
And a couple of fans.

 

[crzyfshygy]

Originally Posted by Laddy
2 x 250 10k MH with Reef Optix and Icecap ballast, would be my vote.
And a couple of fans.
What are reef optix???

 

[laddy]

You were asking about reflectors, no?

 

[viper_930]

May I ask why you'd prefer a mogul style? I'd go for 2x250W 14k Phoenix bulbs with lumen max 3 reflectors on a PFO ballast.

 

[laddy]

Basically Viper and I are telling you to bake the hell out of your tank.

 

[acrylic51]

Reef Optics IMO aren't the best reflectors out on the market.....If you want max par you'd be better of staying with your magnetic ballast like the PFO setups......Probably the nicest reflectors and best reflective ability out on the market right now are the Lumenarc reflectors

 

[fanker]

go with 14k if u dont have any actinic supplement. 10k is white

 

[reefnut]

DE bulbs are not going to put out any more heat than SE bulbs... but you get more light from the DE which seems like a win win to me??

 

[acrylic51]

The PAR isn't the same between DE and SE......SE bulb on a magnetic ballast in the right combination will give you more PAR than a SE......Check the lighting studies

 

[reefnut]

Originally Posted by acrylic51
The PAR isn't the same between DE and SE......SE bulb on a magnetic ballast in the right combination will give you more PAR than a SE......Check the lighting studies
Do you mean "DE bulb on a magnetic ballast in the right combination will give you more PAR than a SE"??
All the "lighting studies" I have seen suggest DE produce more PAR than SE.

 

[crzyfshygy]

Are you guys saying PFO ballasts are the best and magnetic not electric???

 

[acrylic51]

Sorry for butting in, but DE bulbs will either run on electronic ballasts or HQI ballast not standard magnetic ballasts.....
As far as my reference to my theory or idea on what I had posted earlier......If you go to cnidarianreef dot com/lamps.cfm and read through the site, you'll see that time and effort was put into it to simplify things a bit, and the readings are there.....What your looking at is the PAR readings.......Again alot does depending on the ballast bulb combination, but you will see somewhat that you do find higher PAR readings with the PFO ballasts.....You can get high readings running SE bulbs on HQI ballasts, but your overdriving the bulb and that IMO would result in shorter bulb life......
Again take time to read through the info........And the best reflector on the market as of know is still he Lumenarc, so again with the right bulb ballast combination you can have magic!!!!!!!!!!

 

[murph145]

i just switched out my helios 250W 20K HQI bulbs for some phoenix 14ks on my PFO HQI ballast and PFO mini pendants and they light the tank up good!
i really like this combo

 

[acrylic51]

I've heard good things of the Phoenix bulbs.......

 

[murph145]

same here acrylic thats y i went with them this time.... i liked my helios but im hoping for better growth with these bulbs without the sacrafice of color
all in all the color isnt too much different that the helios 20k's
i was surprised to see how much blue was still in the phoenix 14ks
heres a pic of the tank running the phoenix bulbs

 

[acrylic51]

Sweet Pic!!!!!!!!