150W or 250W MH?
 

Howdy folks,

Starting to set up a cube I picked up on Boxing day. 20 long x 18 Wide x 24 tall.

There is about 21" from the sandbed to the top of the water. I am debating if I should go with a 150W HQI MH or a 250W HQI MH.

I want to venture into SPS and clams and I am wondering if I get the water penetration with the 150 and avoid some of the heat issues if I were to go with the 250.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Greg

If you know you're wanting to get into really high light requiring species, then you should probably go for the 250w, especially if the tank is 24" deep. Then you're not light limited, right?

JMO,

Anthony

I have an 18x18x18 cube and I wish I went 250 over the 150 I bought.
Ditto on the 250

250! :mrgreen:

more power ....grunt

Sounds like a plan guys! I think 250 will be the way to go. (and then when I upgrade to a bigger tank - as much as I would like to deny already thinking ahead to a bigger tank- it will still be a good light) Any suggestions on lighting in a 250W I don't think I will be running any actinics so I was thinking a 20,000K bulb or is it better to go a little lower?

Thanks again for any help and advice!

Greg

My tank is 25" by 36" and I am running a 250 14K no supplemental lighting when it is on. I am thinking of buying another, one 250 14k is not enough. Have you thought about a 400 Watt :D

LOL! 400 watts? I would have to top off a couple gallons of water a day with that intensity!

I'm going to have 2x250 on mine soon LOL

get a 10k bulb and hqi ballast and you'll have no need for a 400w bulb

amen
 

........... amen

I am going to echo and disagree with some here at 24" deep a normal 250 is not enuf for high light corals unless they are all in the top 1/2 of the tank. a good guide line is 18" 250 watt, 24" 250 HQI or 400 watt. I would recomend the 250 watt HQI over the 400 watt and I would also sugest you get normal 250 watt single ended bulbs and only the HQI ballast.

Steve

I think the 250 HQI 14k will be the best choice based on what you guys are saying. Any SPS that I will do will be up towards the top of the tank, I want to save to lower half for LPS and softies that are a little better out of the bright light. The only big light consumers that will be near the bottom will be any clams that I might add.. but I will run any clam purchase though the "experts" to make sure that my conditions are right for them.

Thanks again... and any further advice is welcomed!

Greg

Is this a good choice? - with the Geismann 14.5k bulb option?


http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...t_ID=pfo-hp8q2

I would go the 20w 14K....BTW that cube sounds familar did you buy it at Petsmart my wife is picking hers up tomorrow.....to use for FW :cry:

I Have a 30 gallon cube tank running at the moment with a 150 watt Hqi pendant. I have mostly softies but the light output with a 10 k bulb is very nice. I just switched the bulb to a 20K for a little more blue color. If you would like to see some pictures give me your e mail adress and I will send some your way :mrgreen:

I picked mine up at Big Als on boxing day, but I did see the same ones at Petsmart so I wouls imagine it is the same cube :) It's pretty high, and is proving a little tricky to aquascape, but it was the perfect tank for me since I wanted to upgrade but had a small space to squeeze a new tank into.

I see Coralife has a new 36 inch 250 Watt HQI Pro light out :D
I may have to look into one!

http://www.esuweb.com/cardfile.asp?I...lationship=313

Perfect for us guys that have no center brace :D:D

14k and 20k bulbs offer far less (useable by sps) output compared to 10000k bulbs. the giesmann 13000k is supposed to have good output and a nice blue to it.

with 250HQI on a 24" tank it won't matter much you will still have plenty of PAR on the bottom of the tank with 14 or 20K bulbs.

Steve