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#1
08-02-2005, 03:52 PM
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I must agree with the rest of these Canreefers. Started with NO, PC & T5s & now going with 175w MH over my main reef tank. Tried to save money at the start & ended up spending more than I had to because I kept wanting to keep nicer, more colourful & more light demanding corals & clams.
Learn from our mistakes. Go MH to start. Anthony 
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#3
08-02-2005, 11:04 PM
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I concur with the above posts.
 You may want to look at buying used as well if DIY is a hassel. There is a broad range of corals you can keep with MH , as well as pc's etc but MH seem to be the lighting of choice if you can get it. I used pc's in my first tank and I felt limited to what I could keep. So the new tank got MH and I haven't looked back. PCs are great for a fish only tank with some mushrooms and some polyps and the odd lps and leathers etc but may look nicer under MH and if you like a larger variety I would go with the MH. It also depends on what kind of fish you want to keep as well. Some fish munch on corals and are not coral friendly. You may want to look into that aspect as well. JMO  Cheers
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I bent My Wookie
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#4
08-03-2005, 02:23 AM
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It appears only the MH fans have answered this post.
 I run VHO's over mine and replace them about as often as these guys repalce thier MH's. If you do a search of the Internet you can find articles on the differences between MH and VHO's. These articles will tell you how much each costs to setup and run. Then decide what kind of corals you want to keep and buy for them. Typically however, you are looking at a minimun of 4 watts of power per gallon just to keep most corals. Larry
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#5
08-03-2005, 02:38 AM
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Quote:
would have saved 4400.00 if I just went to MH in the first place. here is a thought, why don't people stop looking for the minimum lighting they can get away with and instead look for the maximum after they decide what they are going to keep. sure you can keep softies and some LPS successfully under NO's but they do better with VHO or PC's. and they even do fine with MH. look at the ocean, do we only see soft corals in 50 feet of water or more? nope we see them in the reef flats along with the SPS and others and the sun is actually more intense than our best lighting. like anything any coral can be adjusted to brighter lighting with good success but a coral that needs bright lighting won't survive with little lighting, so it all comes down to where did they collect that sps, lps, or softies as they can be found in any area in any lighting conditions. my recommendation is to decide what you want in the tank, if it is a mix, then set your lighting for the most light demanding species you want to keep. but a lot of the recommendations posted here are from people like your self who didn't know what you get as lighting info is still relatively new and there wasn't much info a few years back. so we started with the cheapest and ended up getting more and more until it was "why didn't I do this in the first place" type of thoughts. I have zoo's and mushrooms in my tank that are more stunning under my MH than they were under any other lighting I have had, and like other corals they are capable of getting there nutrients from their algae also. so even mushrooms that are dull or brown under NO lights will expel algae and expose there colors under intense lighting. also lets try not to use "watts per gallon as a measurment of lighting as it means absolutly nothing unless we are talking about the exact same type of lights on the exact same diemntion tank. to show my point if you have a tank that is 4" deep but huge in the other dimentions and it is 40 gal or you have a tank that is 30" deep and smaller in the other dimentions but still 40 gal a 40 watt light will produce 1 watt per gal on each tank but you can see the quality of light on the bottom is going to be a totaly different thing and while you might keep corals deicent in the 4" deep tank the ones in the 30" deep tank will probably die. ok done ranting for today  Steve
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 *everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*Some strive to be perfect.... I just strive.
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#6
08-03-2005, 03:40 AM
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GREAT POST - and ...............it saved me a bunch of typing because I went through the same thing - well except the overdriven part. Go with MH. The more you learn the more you want to keep and if you are like most reefers that I know the more light demanding species you will want to keep. It will save you money at the end of the day.
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