upgarding to MH ?'s

[murph145]

hey everyone....
as of current i have a 100g tank that is 60"Lx18"Wx24"H
i have 470W of PC lighting currently over my tank.... everything is doing fine but i was wondering about buying some MH's to put over the tank....
my questions are the following....
1.) if i keep some of my PC the 4x65W and one of my T5's thats 28W that gives me a total of 288W of PC.... should i then go with 2x175WMH or 2X250WMH??
2.)should i make the remaining PC's all actinic or can i leave them half anf half like they are now??
3.) what would be the best MH bulb to get 10K or 20K??
4.) how much more heat will the MH bulbs generate.??... right now i control the heat with 2 3" comp fans one blowing in and one sucking out.... i could install 2 more but i really didnt want to buy a chiller..... the canopy is 10" from the waters surface....
thanks for any info u guys can help me with.....
justin

 

[buzzword]

hey, with the depth of your tank I would recommend 2x250w MH and keep the 4x65w PC and the T5. You can go all actinics or keep it the way you have. I run 2x250w MH and 4x65w PC with one PC 10k and the other Actinic, for dusk to dawn effect. 10K MH bulbs are more yellow and the 20K are more blue. XM makes a 15K now that is supposed to be a good medium of the two. You may be able to keep just your fans or add 2 more, don't know b/c I live in CO, not as hot here. HTH

 

[murph145]

ok thanks for the info....
i was figurin that i would need the 250W cuz of the tank depth im just affraid of the extra heat the will generate.... since i have a canopy and all i didnt want to evaporate like 10 gallons a day and have my temp skyrocket....

do u know about price wise whats a good deal or not??.... ive done some searches and dont know it looks like around $220 per each MH that includes the mogul ballast reflector and a XM bulb.... ill have to check out that 15K one your talkin about.... like u said the 10K is kinda yellow but im affraid the 20K will be just too blue.... but if i keep 2 of the PC bulbs the 10K/6500K combo then i wonder if it would take away from the blue to even it out.... i hate this lol i want to see what all the combonations look like before i purchase and install....
well thanks again for the 411