Metal Halide Lights
 

Hello All,
I'm considering purchasing a metal halide light fixture for my reef tank and was wondering if anybody has any recommendation of a fixture and an appropriate size of fixture for my tank. It is 90 gal and is 18"Lx48"Wx25"H. Looking for something with mostly soft corals with potentially a few hard ones not overly intense of a fixture but sufficient. Thanks!!

-hey
 

-hey pgfraser just got some double-ended metal halides last month(20k)
about as blue as they come I'm pretty sure. -anyways when picking metal
halide, things can get expensive, but let me be the first 2 say that for reef tanks lighting will be the center of everything. It will determine what clams,corals, and even fish u shud get. -I'm goin' softies so i got 2-70 watt
metal halides bulbs. But honestly for a tank that size it's hard 2 say, myb
2-250 watt bulbs. also if ur considering going double-ended like me u'll have 2 get a piece of glass 2 tone down the amount of uv radiation that enters ur tank cuz double-ended don't have that uv protection membrane and pass way 2 much uv radiation. -for a tank ur size you'll definitly need good penetration

If you are going to be getting DE 2x250 mh it is equivalent to 1 400w SE mh. It just gose to show the difrence in the bulbs. If I wher you I would get 1 400w SE MH for your tank.

2-250 watt
 

-pretty sure I'd go with 2-250 watt so the light can spread out more rather than being intensified in the middle.

I would go with 1 400 watt SE a. because more ligh b.neater no big mwss.

Dual MH or T5 48" strips are your best choices. Personally, a 4 ft tank for me would mean 2 x 250MH

If you go with MH prepaire for the heat battle, might need a chiller (~$800)

If you want to have enough light the first go round for anything you might throw in the tank I'd do 2x250W MH with T5 actinic supplementation.

The T5 allows you to run a MH bulb with better PAR but balances the more yellowy look of such bulbs and give you the neat dawn/dusk effect. Whether you go DE or SE is up to you, but if you are serious about growing stuff fast, I'd go SE which has a PAR advantage over DE at the price of compactness.

You probably don't need to go up to 400W MH with your tank. The heat and added electricity can't justify the increase in PAR versus a good 250 SE setup for a 25" deep tank.

If you want to keep things simple, there are a number of plug and play systems on the market including the Outer-Orbit fixtures by CurrestUSA, the Maristar by Sunlightsupply and omnipresent Aqualights by Coralife.

I have 2 se MH 250 on my tank, its only 44 g but is narrow and 4ft long. I dont have a problem with the heat as I leave my canopy open on top and the back. even when its really hot out I drop a couple of 1L pop bottles of ice in the sump and I'm good to go.

2-250-watt
 

-so what can u keep with 2-250's in a 44-gallon, cuz my cuzin has 2-250 watt bulbs on his 46-gallon(with a 175-watt ballast!??!!), and he thinks he can keep sps,i think so 2 but i donno

I have heard stories from both sides and LOL they were at the same store 2 different people.(at ocean aquatics)

Wendell(gotta love Wendell)-If you want to keep brown sps corals thats fine.

Janet(makes you laugh no matter what)- Yeah you should get color about half way down the coral.

yee yee
 

-o ya the guy who sold u crabs

If this is a standard 90g with the usual center brace then I think it's a no-brainer - go with at least 2x250W MH and consider T5 supplementation (and preferably use HQI/DE on a non-electronic ballast for the best PAR). If it's going to have eurobracing then you could get away with a 400W with a GOOD reflector (something like a Lumenarc). But even then it's going to lead to a sort of patchy spotlight effect with major dimming on the ends of the tank (which may be a good thing if you're planning on keeping low light corals - you'll have somewhere to put them).

If this is going to be an SPS dominated tank then I think you need to go here: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2 and read all 4 (I think there are 4) parts of this series. Too many hobbyists get brain washed and hung up on the idea of running 400W MH and put far too little consideration into planning appropriate waterflow for SPS tanks. They then become frustrated when their SPS lack color and growth despite having "super bright" lights and having tried every brand of blub in every available kelvin rating.

You know, even if most people can't understand it, please watch your language. This is your final warning. Thanks.

Whats up with that.

I feel like this is a reef lighting version of "Who's on First?"....

what?
 

-isn't it true that u got ur scarlets from ocean aquatics whats the big deal?

mik_101 and bv reefer, could you guys take this to PM please. This is a metal halide lights thread and we'd like to keep the topic on track.

Thanks :biggrin: