southpaw23 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Hi all... Now i've read enough to know that the 70w MH would probably be more than sufficient for my 15 gallon tank but my concern lies in whether it would be sufficient when i decide to upgrade to a 50 to 90 gallon tank...i was thinkin if i were to do that...would buying another 70w MH...maybe 2....would that setup work for a 50-90 gallon tank? Basically a 3-4 foot tank. Oh and by the way...i found a really good deal on the MH around my area (i'm in Malaysia) and it'll cost me approximately USD50 for the whole MH setup.... Another question...and this might be stupid...please bear with me...but do all MH come in the same color temp? because i'm getting this from an electrical shop and they're not big on reef lighting.... Some input would be good...thanx all.... Link to comment
LEEWINK Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 A 70wt maybe too small for your tank, depending on what you want in there to keep. Personally i would go for minimal of 150wt and prefferably 250wt. The 150 would be easier slightly to keep cooler, but you will need to seriously think about heat issues, use good pc fans and maybe even a chiller, this depends on your climate there too. If your adding a chiller, add one which is for a far larger tank. I run 6 x T5 tubes in mine now, mounting to just under 150wt, these were installed as normal under my hood, the heat from these tubes alone overdone my tank (16 gall), this is even with 3 pc fans and a teco micro chiller in line. The size of my room which my tank is in also plays a role in cooling, as too smaller room which it is small, will heat very fast, and then all that heat will transfer to your tank, hence a giant circle which will be hard to beat or control, although here our summer is generally 1 month only !!!. My plan now, is to raise the hood by 8 inch as to bring the light and heat away from the tank water, like a m/h light fitting height. For now i have a simmod light control on my iks, and ive had to switch my lighting to 50% brightness to cool the tank a tad, untill i make the raiser. sorry to waffle on, but heat will be a, or could be a problem. As far as your second part of your question, a 70wt to use as upgrade isn't worth it, buy a good one once now and use it on your next setup too. ( look at my pics below, one day i want a big tank too, so i bought most things for that bigger tank, and just run on my little one for now, still works as it should !! ) cheers lee :) :) Link to comment
southpaw23 Posted April 28, 2003 Author Share Posted April 28, 2003 Thanx for heads up on the MH Leewinks.....i've done some scouting around since then and have managed to find me a couple of 36w PC's (10k + Actinic)....and have decided to go with them....currently workin on retrofitting them in my current hood. I've read that this setup should be sufficient for my 15 gallon....just wondering what your take is on this. The only problem i foresee is that i am hooking them up to a 30w Ballast. The reason for this is because they don't sell 4 pin straight end caps in Malaysia (not common at all) and we managed to use the outlet's of the ballast to plug directly into the PC's....it's a little difficult to explain but the bottom line is that the outlets of the 36w Balast won't fit in the bulb and i had to settle for the 30's..... My question is...what are the effects of plugging in a higher wattage bulb in to a lower wattage ballast? and vice versa...haven't been able to get an answer for this on the other threads...or maybe i havent been doing enough reading....would appreciate insight on this though.....thanx again... Link to comment
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