[Reefmaster]

oh boy, the old lighting dilemma. i've got more brains than i do money so i sometimes take a different approach.

christy, does the hood come with the 2 65k 250's? if so, i would use them for now. when you increase your corals, change bulbs. i wouldn't spend the extra money on high K bulbs. the 65K reportedly mimics natural mid-day sunshine in equatorial regions and provides the fullest spectrum range, and is alot cheaper than 10k. you're invited to come see our tank anytime and see the diff between 55K and 20K. (aside: if anybody wants a 400W 20K we can get em here in vic for about $85!!) my opinion is the 55k is a bit yellow and the 20k is too blue. we will be replacing the 55k with a 65k in the next two weeks so come then if you want.

i guess another option is to sell/trade one MH setup and use the $$ to setup your VHO. if it were me on that size tank i would sell/store one MH, sell the vho stuff that you would have, put in one or two actinics for $20, and buy a new coral.

as for the lamp spectrum shifting, i'm of the opinion that much of it is good marketing by manufacturer's/suppliers (ie 1 part truth, 9 parts BS). the recommended practice is to replace lamps every 12-18 months. why wouldn't this be temperature dependant? if i start with a 55k lamp, sure it'll shift below say 5k faster than a 65k would. but i expect a 10k and a 20k would take much longer to shift to 5k, however i have never read that these lamps should last much longer. i have access to the required equipment at the university to do the measurements and know for sure but haven't bothered. sorry, a bit long and off topic.

do you already have a hood, christy? if so, have you considered just buying the parts and putting it together? albrite here in vic has the ballasts and bases and its really easy to assemble it all after you've done it once. roughly stacks up to 200-225 including new lamp. if you decided to do that and need a hand, bring the hood&parts over and we'll put it together in the workshop. shane