Opinions on MH lighting
 

Hey,

Well I am in the midst of a large tank upgrade and I was hoping to get some opinions on MH lighting. Right now I am running a small 30G with a 250W XM 10,000K bulb on a PFO pulse start ballast. Almost all my corals so far are SPS. I am going to be getting a 155 Gallon tank (5'X2'X2') and am currently trying to figure out what MH halide lighting combination to use. I really like the colour and intensity of my XM bulb, so I was thinking of running XM bulbs on the new tank, but I am not dead set on it.

My plan (so far) was to either buy a PFO double 250W ballast for 250$ and run three 250 bulbs over the tank, or to buy two son agro 430W ballasts (~90$ each) and run two 400W bulbs with my existing 250W in the middle of the tank. Has anyone run the 400W XM's on a son agro ballast?

What combination of bulbs/ballasts would you setup if this was your tank

:question:

Thanks!

Re: Opinions on MH lighting
 

Hypothetically, if this was my tank, I'd setup 3 radiums on Son Agro bulbs. Although it would also look good with 10k Ushio and actinics. If it wa my tank, anyway.

It is your tank right now!

I kinda like the radiums, are the ushio's nice and white on the son agro? The ones running at Safari's here in town seem yellow to me...

If you want to come by, I can throw the 10k in and you can see what they look like.

Cool.... so the bulb thing is kind of a debate.... is the son agro (I think some people call this a 400W HQI ballast) a good ballast for firing all 400W bulbs?

I think so, but it does over drive the bulbs slightly, reducing the lifespan.

Re: Opinions on MH lighting
 

I have a 150 gallon tank with two 400 watt son agro ballasts for lighting. Originally I started out with the radiums. They look great but lose their intensity fairly quick. I love the color but I decided to switch them out for 10k's and now supplement with 2 -110 VHO. I am running a 400watt 10K XM beside a Ushio. They look virtually the same to me. If I run carbon in my tank, I could almost handle not having the VHO's on. But how white or blue you like your tank is very subjective.

I would buy XM again. The downside of the SA ballasts is the lifespan of the bulbs appears to be a bit shorter from the overdriving. At least I sure found that to be my experience with the radiums. If you go radium definitely prepare to switch them out every 9 months.

Thanks for the post, like I said I like the 10K look best, I know that the colour thing is totally subjective, everyone sees a little differently. The blue look is a crowd pleaser though, it looks more like the ocean i suppose. I think I will get the son agro ballast and give the XM's a try on it. I am curious to see how long they last.

At a tank that is 24" tall I would go the 250 watt route, by staying with 250 watt you only need to buy 2 more lights instead of 3. also I would look at getting the PFO HQI ballast instead of the pulse start (80.00 more for a dual 250 watt HQI set up) But I just like having all my bulbs the same (as in type).

Steve

No I plan on running my existing 250W setup with what ever two more ballasts I go with, so I would only be buying the two anyways. I am just going to run all the same brand and colour rating, the 250W will look different but I don't think enough to notice overall.

I think I am going to go for two 400's. Burn baby burn :exclaim:

Hey,

I would go with the 400 watters. Im running a 400W(10K) over my 33. BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT! Lol. Make sure to put your 400W close enough to the 250 so that it doesnt look like the center of your tank is darker. BTW: Go with TAR ballast. Cheaper than PULSE.(Well at J&L anyways)

Chris

BTW: a pulse son agro is a TAR ballast. :mrgreen:

Steve

And cheaper than at J&L :razz:

son agro burns 'em brighter! Plus you can't (for the most part) run european bulbs on a probe start ballast (what you refer to as TAR).

I have been reading lots of posts on reef central, both XM and Ushio 10K are reported to run very well on the 400W HQI (aka. son agro). Some guys are running them over a year, unlike the Radiums, with no noticeable change in coral growth or bulb colour.

I bought my ballasts from the local hydophonics shop on the weekend, 100$ each, they are made by advanced I think. I still haven't decided which bulbs to run, either the Ushio or the XM's. Probably the XM's though, they have the highest PAR value for a 400W SE bulb and a colour of 13000K in Sanjay's tests. Plus they are 30$ cheaper :biggrin: