zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Just a quick question... I currently have a 15Gallon w/ 2X65 Watts of Coralife Power Compact lights. *Would I feel a large difference (growth wise for softies) going from that to 250Watts of Metal Halide 10,000K w/ no PC? (I'm also not sure if a Bell or Hood shaped MH pendant is best?) Link to comment
Reefer_Buddha Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 without a doubt. halides are the best lighting you can provide a tank. Link to comment
zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 thx for the advice... *I'm still not sure if there is a big difference between MH BELL shaped pendants and the PFO hoods (are the PFO hoods designed to hang?) Link to comment
skeletor Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Originally posted by zachtos *Would I feel a large difference (growth wise for softies) going from that to 250Watts of Metal Halide 10,000K w/ no PC? IMO that is way overkill for soft corals. If you're really set on MH why not put something smaller like a 70w DE ? With a 250 on that thing you could have a killer SPS/Clam tank, but just for softies I'd go smaller. -skeletor- Link to comment
bobioden Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Best move I did was go from my 12g Eclipse to a 15g with 175w MH and 2x32w Actinic hanging in a PFO pendant. Your corals will love you. Link to comment
zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 -Thanks for the info... *2 more small questions:* 1.) After I hang my MH light, should I leave the glass canopy ON or OFF???? 2.) Do you really need PC actinics w/ 10,000K MH bulbs???? Link to comment
bobioden Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hi, 1. What glass canopy are you talking about? 2. 10k light is very white, the actinics tones it down and makes it not so bright. If you go with a higher bulb like the 13k or 20k then you won't need the actinics. I personally like the look of just the actinics on. So they are on a hour before the main lights and stay on a hour after the main lights go out. Corals look really good under just the actinic. Here are the lights with just the actinic on. Link to comment
zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 this is the canopy http://www.thatpetplace.com/MainPro/itemdy...302+0201&PgNo=1 Link to comment
zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 I think ive made the decision to up my 2x65W PC to 250W HQI 10,000K (no actinic supplements) MH lighting, miniHQI PFO pendant and ballast. = $330 after shipping from marinedepot.... *still not sure what to do about a canopy. Link to comment
movingshadow Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Originally posted by zachtos -Thanks for the info... *2 more small questions:* 1.) After I hang my MH light, should I leave the glass canopy ON or OFF???? 2.) Do you really need PC actinics w/ 10,000K MH bulbs???? 1) if you mean the glass top of the tank, that depends if the fixture has glass between the bulb and water lessening the uv-radiation. (search for uv shield and halide in the forum) 2.) I definately would use PC's with 10.000K, though with 250W I would opt either for a 14.000K bulb (still great growth AND great color) or even a 20.000K bulb. With 20.000K/250W output the tank would look killer (if you like blue & fluorescing corals ...) and you'd still get enough growth out of your softies (even sps/clams shouldn't present problems depending on the rest of the water/tank params) JMHO though.... Link to comment
Ike Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I'd have to agree with skeletor. MH is nice, but if you're just going to keep softies you really don't need it. They will do just fine under PC. In addition, with a 10k bulb you're going to need some kind of actinic supplementation too. It works great for bobioden, but I see by his pics that he's keeping some sps & a clam. If that's the direction that you want to go in the by all means get the MH. If you're just keeping softies though save your money, you don't need it. Your lighting needs are completely dependant on your livestock. Not every coral comes from shallow water & needs intense light. Most sps & clams do, most softies, shrooms, zoos, etc. don't. Link to comment
Chargerfan Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I've just upgraded from 82w of pc lighting to a 150w mh bulb. I'm using it on a 15 gallon hex. The bulb is the 50,000k Iwasaki and it looks great w/o actinics. For me, the mh upgrade made sense, since the tank is about 18" deep. Link to comment
zachtos Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 *Would my softies have a increased growth rate and would they still benefit w/o actinic or is it just for aesthics? Link to comment
Carl_in_Florida Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Tagging onto this thread. I have a 29 gallon I am going to convert to salt and am leaning toward a 4X55 pc. Dont plan on keeping stonies or clams. Please keep the opinions flowing. Carl Link to comment
~_~ Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 I upgraded my 20H from 2x55 PC to a 150w DE 20K, and even though it doesn't seem like much of an upgrade, corals grow WAY faster now, and everything looks way better now to. I think my zoo growth has nearly doubled. The shimmering effect alone is worth getting MH PC lighting looks so, so, crappy in comparison Link to comment
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