175W enough for SPS?

Veng68 · #1 02-08-2009, 01:56 AM

The 175 watt Iwasaki with an electronic ballast is supposed to have as much PAR as any 250 watt bulb according to Sanjay Joshi.

It's a pricey bulb though.

Cheers,
Vic

fishytime · #2 02-08-2009, 05:16 AM

If you do the 20" deep tank, you could go with HOT5s, 6+ bulbs would do nicely. Just thought Id give you a bit more to think about.

BlueAbyss · #3 02-08-2009, 08:21 AM

Well, the plan is to have 2 T5HO bulbs running 12 hours a day above the tank anyhow. This was more because of colour considerations more than anything, I want to use a 10K bulb because I like the really bright white sunlight effect. I was planning on using a XM 10K bulb with a PFO electronic ballast run 8 hours a day, and and 2 actinic or 50/50, maybe a Fiji Purple T5HO on for 12...

Does this change the equation at all?

OH, and the tank is like 15 inches deep, part of the tank will have a 3" sandbed (the seagrass part)....

GreenSpottedPuffer · #4 02-08-2009, 03:15 PM

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1571128

lobsterboy · #5 02-08-2009, 03:22 PM

I used to be using 150wt MH, at a depth of 21in, and have switched to t5's. with the t5's at the same depth, i have experienced much more growth, and color in my SPS.

BlueAbyss · #6 02-08-2009, 08:57 PM

Hmm...

Well, the reason I'm going with MH to begin with is for the shimmer, I really like the effect and I think with the surge I will get some interesting caustics. The other option is to find a 70W MH to use as an accessory light, to provide that shimmer, and use 6 T5HO bulbs. Unfortunately, I've searched and searched for 70W MHs and they are impossible to find, so that idea is out... unless I call these guys http://www.venturelighting.com/NAindex.html. They have MH ballasts down to 50W, though I've never EVER seen a 50W MH bulb.

It all comes down to one thing... I need a wider tank

BlueAbyss · #7 02-08-2009, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lobsterboy

I used to be using 150wt MH, at a depth of 21in, and have switched to t5's. with the t5's at the same depth, i have experienced much more growth, and color in my SPS.

Hmm, a couple questions... what kind of bulbs were you using when you ran MH? How many T5s are you running now, at what wattage, with which bulbs?

Rbacchiega · #8 02-09-2009, 01:03 AM

I think if I remember he's running...okay I cant remember(I want to say 12 for some reason, but my brain is trying to recover from last night...) It's a big light unit though and the colour on his SPS are rediculous.

JDigital · #9 02-09-2009, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lobsterboy

I used to be using 150wt MH, at a depth of 21in, and have switched to t5's. with the t5's at the same depth, i have experienced much more growth, and color in my SPS.

That's not surprising... 150W is pretty weak for a 21" depth..

BlueAbyss · #10 02-09-2009, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDigital

That's not surprising... 150W is pretty weak for a 21" depth..

How about 175 over 15" J? I guess what I'm asking here is will I get good growth and colour from 2 T5HOs (though they'll be 60/40 actinic and a Fiji Purple) and a 10K XM with a PFO electronic ballast?

At least, this is tentatively what I've decided I want...

It'll probably all change, who knows maybe I'll go with all T5HO in the end... that's like 200 W of T5 over a 24" long tank, if I go with 8 bulbs and I end up using the 20 gallon after all, making it 25 W less than the proposed metal halide and fluorescent combo. I'm not sure if that translates to 25 W less light, or less power consumed though...