Another voice of agreement here. I have a 75g tank (not a bowfront) and I am running 2 x 250watt MH. I have the icecap ballasts and they are great. The ballasts form Bartel and Gibson work great too, but the icecap run very cool and are supposed to be easier on the bulbs which should double bulb life. This can add up over time. I have a 175watt MH Hamilton pendant which I had over the tank until I got my hood built. It was good too and would work fine for medium and low light critters. However, I love clams and anemones, and for these I definitly needed the punch of the 250s.
Also, I am running 20K Radium bulbs and it is very blue. I put a couple of 5500s Normal output lamps (40watt) on to shift the color a bit. I love the way it looks now. My 175 was a 14K Hamilton bulb and it has great color. I may just go with the 14K bulbs when I am changing out my 250s (sometime this summer).
For the price difference I would go with the 250's and then you can keep whatever you decide you want. For color temp, and supplementation, it is a personal taste thing. It would be best if you could look at a few different setups and decide for yourself what you like.
Hope that helps.
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Marcel
How was I to know that Salt was an addictive drug?
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