Starting a Reef

yellow ace

yellow ace

Member
Hi, I have a 46-gallon bow front that has been up for about 1 1/2 years. I am looking into having coral and was wondering what is the best lighting out there? I know some people have recommended pc's for my tank, is that good enough for hard corals too? I just don't want to have to upgrade again. Any suggestions would be great!
-oh, all my fish are reef safe. Peppermint shrimp are reef safe too aren't they?
-Ace :happyfish
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Yep, MH stands for Metal Halide, the strongest light source available to reefers. If you don't want to worry about any more upgrades, invest in MH.
 
yellow ace

yellow ace

Member
really? wow...I had been told around 300...although that was for a pc. what does HQI stand for? (sorry, new to chatrooms)
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
But, to make certain you won't have to worry about it, I'd invest in a 250w HQI. You can get an IceCap 250w MH ballast for around $110-$120 bucks. Depending upon the type of bulb you want, around $60-$70 for the bulb. Then you will also need a pendent, which will run around $100. So roughly $270.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
HQI-Halogen Quartz Iodine, basically HQI bulbs are double ended unlike normal SE (Singel Ended) bulbs.
 
kdfrosty

kdfrosty

Active Member
A 250w MH supplemented with actinics (VHO or PC) should do the trick. You wouldn't need to worry about upgrading unless you upgraded your tank.
Personally, I built an industrial type 400w MH ballast, socket, reflector myself. With bulb it cost me $100. I upgraded to a better bulb (XM 400w) and total I have spent is $169 now.
 
matty0h_52

matty0h_52

Member
Originally Posted by Hurt
HQI-Halogen Quartz Iodine, basically HQI bulbs are double ended unlike normal SE (Singel Ended) bulbs.
not true they allso sell single ended mogule bulbs. i just bought 2 of them for my lighting system.
what i was told was
HQI- to put it in lamens terms/ if you have a 20k bulb a HQI balest is going to push a 20k HQI bulb harder and brighter.
pulse start- another popular balast allso inerchangeable with single ended HQI bulbs. Will push that bulb to 20k thats it! so some people think that useing a puls start balast may spare the life of the bulb just a little longer.
 
matty0h_52

matty0h_52

Member
HQI Ballasts are for use with European 250W or 400W 10,000K, 14,000K and 20,000K HQI Bulbs ONLY. standard Metal Halide Ballasts are also capable of powering 250W Ushio 10,000K as well as 400W German 10,000K and 14,000K Metal Halide Bulbs.
this is taken right off of a stores sight!
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
not true they allso sell single ended mogule bulbs. i just bought 2 of them for my lighting system.
That's news to me, I have never once seen a HQI MH bulb that was SE
.
Show me the link to the bulb and socket. I'd love to see it :notsure:
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
standard Metal Halide Ballasts are also capable of powering 250W Ushio 10,000K as well as 400W German 10,000K and 14,000K Metal Halide Bulbs.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Only electronic MH ballasts are capable of running both SE and the DE HQI. As for 250W and 400w bulbsyou need different ballasts to power each. I hope you were not implying that a 250w ballast will fire a 400w bulb
. As for the degrees Kelvin, any bulb in the same wattage will fire on the ballast as long as it is the same wattage.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
HQI- to put it in lamens terms/ if you have a 20k bulb a HQI balest is going to push a 20k HQI bulb harder and brighter.
An HQI bulb is meant to be fired on a HQI ballast(aka electronic ballast). Of course it will push it harder, and put out more PAR than a SE MH bulb. That's what HQI do, run hotter and put out more PAR, ultimately diminishing the life of the bulb. But if you are a serious reefer, that's what it's all about-PAR.
 
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