MH vs t5ho
 

i am running 6 t5ho over my 80 gal and have a chance to swap to 2 400w MH
/ ballasts and reflectors should i or not and don't really know the ups and downs.also gonna up grade to a 180+gal in the future
i think it has 15000k bulbs
don't know much yet sorry all i know they are worth a pretty penny

Depends, what are you planning on keeping ? What is the depth of your tank (and future)?For right now it sounds like over kill. I think 250's would be a better choice and a lot less power consumption. I seem to be getting big on power consumption lately:confused: Good deals always come up for stuff if your looking. I shut up now until more info :)

my current tank is 18 high and the one ill build will be 24 high and of corse i have sps right now

Then I think the 400's would be to much for what you need. Not happy with T5's ? I'm going to switch from MH's to T5's when I up-grade

+1 Heat would also be an issue I think

best choice i ever made!

what switching to MH???? and i guess i could just run 1 for now till i upgrade

I ran 2 400W MH over the corner tank I used to have set up. I loved them. At that time I ran 20K radiums. I'm using one now with a 10,000K over a 65 Gal tank I have set up. Other bulb will be 250W but everthing is temporary till I get my corner tank set up again. A chiller is pretty handy when you use 400"s.

No switching from MH to T-5. Granted i do have a nano tank. the temperature fluctuations and the evaporation was getting tricky to deal with. I like thae fact that you can fine tune the colour of the lighting with t-5. IMO one isn't really better than the other, its more personal preference.

the ballasts are vue technology

Hmm, I'm not sure what the question is here... do you have a really good deal on a 2x 400W halide set-up, and you're asking if you should buy it or not? If it's a steal and you have some disposable funds, buy it. You never know when you're going to find a good deal on a 36" deep tank, ya know? :wink: On the other hand, I wouldn't consider anything over 250W for a tank 18" deep... halide has really good penetration at depth and you may find there's too much light for a mixed reef.

Do you have issues with your current T5 set-up over the 80 gallon? Not enough light, or... ? T5s may not penetrate as well, but if you're still aiming for a mixed reef in the 24" deep tank you may want to consider going that route, since chillers are expensive and add significantly to your energy bill... MH is great, but projects a lot of heat. You'll still be able to keep the high light stuff in the top 1/2 of the tank, and have lots of medium light places for things like zoas and palys (low light stuff like mushrooms can be tucked in under ledges and such).

If you want clams on the sandbed in the 24" deep tank, go for the halides. And get a chiller :mrgreen: