ravenlot Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 I'm thinking about moving up to MH for my 10g but I'd like some input as to whether this is a good selection. I want to be able to raise SPS corals and perhaps a clam. On Hellolights.com, I found this ARO Electronic Ballast http://www.hellolights.com/17elbalmetha.html for $129 I was thinking I'd use a 175W 20,000K CoralLife bulb ($80) so I wouldn't have to add any supplemental actinic lighting. Plus, I thought I'd get the MH Parabolic Reflector Set w/ Mogul Base http://www.hellolights.com/methalparref.html $30. I was thinking I'd stick it all in a simple DIY canopy. I wanted somethiing that was relatively easy to put together. Is this a good selection? Do you reefers have a different suggestion considering my goals? Can I get a better price for what I'm looking for. I would appreciate whatever ideas you may have. Link to comment
Reefer_Buddha Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 i wouldnt put more than 150w of MH over a 10g but thats just me Link to comment
jasontatro Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Agreed. Even 150 would be overkill. Link to comment
SeaSide Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I think 150 DE is even brighter than 175 SE. Link to comment
Von digity Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 If your gonna do an electronic ballast for the 175, I'd go with Icecap. Same price, but it has a higher par (and uses more electricity) than other electronic ballasts. I guess do some research and find out what type of electronic ballast performance your looking for. I guess I'm the total opposite of you guys (buddha and jasontatro). If I was in your shoes and had the means to afford a chiller, I'd buy a 400 watter. But I guess I like extreme set-ups. Link to comment
ravenlot Posted March 1, 2004 Author Share Posted March 1, 2004 Oh ok. So what do you guys think about the 75w DIY setups I've seen where people get a 70w ballast on eBay and then get the Ushio 70w HQI double ended bulb and socket from hellolights.com? Or, do you have any suggestions for alternative setups that will allow for SPS corals and good coral growth in general. I'm not settled on getting any one setup. I just want to make sure that I get the right one. Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 the 175 is fine, there is nothing extreme about that. if i had the money i would be doing something along those lines. i say go for it, there are so many people on this board that have more lighting than that, look at the tank of the month...lunchbucket has a 400w on his 20 gallon. its awesome. Link to comment
ravenlot Posted March 3, 2004 Author Share Posted March 3, 2004 Alright, I've decided to go with the 70w setup. A few people PMed me about it. After reading up on it, I think it should be able to accomplish what I want from this 10g tank setup and it's cost is more reasonable. I decided to get a ready made one from LampDr. It's probably cheaper than what I'd have to pay if I bought the parts separately since the ballasts on ebay are starting to rise up in cost. Plus, I won't have to put it together; I just have to install it. Anyway, thanks for all your input guys. I think if I had gone with my original choice, I would have gotten something more elaborate than I need right now. Link to comment
Korbin Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 150 watts is in no way overkill. Check out some of the tanks on this forum. If you want to keep SPS and clams, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to get that light. I have one on my 15 tall right now. Sometimes I wish my corals near the top were getting more light. I also have a 55 watt PC. It is a lot of light, and can easily bleach certain corals, but would be really nice to have to get the best color from acros and ensure clam health. Link to comment
GSXR1000 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 175 is not overkill especially if you are running a 20k bulb. If u are doing sps and clam its a nice setup 20k will have lower PAR then a 10k or a 6500k. PAR is what makes the corals grow. Im running a 175watt 10k with 2x32 pc actinic on a 20L LPS,SPS,CLAM tank. My tank is only 12" high. I would go 250 SE if you want a 20k bulb to make up for the PAR. To break it down is it overkill for a softy and LPS tank yes you could just use PCs or VHOs. For a sps tank hell no its not overkill. Look at J21kickster tank he runs a 250 20k on a 20L. If you want a SE MH id run 250 if you want 20k and id run a 175 if you want a 10k. ALso you can 70watt HQI DE which will be close to the brightness and the par of a 175SE. WHat are you trying to keep that is the main goal you need to figure out. Another tank to check out is bobioden i have the same PFO MH/PC hood as him he runs it on a 15g same as my 20L just mine is 30"L and his is 24". I have less intense lighting by a little on the outer edge to keep some mushrooms and others. BUt my whole tank is lite up and is beuatiful. IM so happy i went with this setup when my LFS told me i would boil the water. They dont know jack. Link to comment
GSXR1000 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Hey Korbin i seen you said you wish your corals were closer. I checked out some of your pics. Transfer your 20H into a 20L your tank would kick ass. 20Ls are awesome for aquascaping. YOu could get one for 20bucks instead of upgrading your MH:P Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 i got 250W over my 20L. I just have a 20k bulb, so I don't need actinics. It is bright but not as much as a 10k. These guys talked me in to a 250W versus a 150W, I am glad they did. If you ever upgrade over a 12" high tank you are gonna have to buy a whole new system. Link to comment
GSXR1000 Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Thats why i bought the PFO pendant. It holds 175 to 400 watt bulbs. I Just have to swap the ballast and bulb its all plug and play. I starting off with 175watt 10k XM with 2x 32 watt actinics. IF i get the itch or when the 175 burns out ill get the 250watt ballast and rock that tank. Im doing clam and sps by the way. My tank is a 20L. 30x12x12:D Link to comment
ravenlot Posted March 5, 2004 Author Share Posted March 5, 2004 I decided to go with the 70w since I'm pretty new to nano reef keeping. I want to add some SPS corals but I don't need to be able to keep all the ones that demand a lot of light. I just know that I can't raise any of them very well with the current 48w PC that I have right now. I figure if I take out one of my PCs and replace the other with a full actinic bulb along with the 70w, I should be able to significantly improve on growth on my current stock and increase the range of what I can keep. I have quite a bit of soft corals right now too. My guess is that a 70w MH upgrade would be less of a shock to them. Furthermore, since I'm pretty sure I can add the 70w to my current hood, that would be simpler than building a canopy to house a 175w+ setup. Finally, this is cheaper, in the shortrun at least which is fine with me. I realize that it will cost me more if (or should I say when) I later want to increase the range of the kind of SPS corals I want to have. However, I figure by that time I'll want to have a larger tank, perhaps a 20g long or bigger. I'll be more experienced in the hobby and I can plan the setup from the start. As for clams, I just wanted that as an option for now. But as far as I can tell, I should be able to keep a small one if I decided to do so. birdman204 (featured nano reef Jan 2004) has a Tridacna Crocea clam and he has a similar setup. Gil Mora (featured nano reef Nov 2003) has a Squamosa Clam and is using a 32W PC. As these clams get larger, I suppose whatever I have may need more light but even if I had more light, I figured I'd have to trade it in due to it's size. Of course, I could totally wrong about all of this. But it's too late now since I already ordered it. BTW, LampsDr. sells the 70w setups in the classified section of the forums. Link to comment
GSXR1000 Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 You didnt need to build a hood for a 175MH. PFO sells hoods that houses either a 175-400 SE bulb with 2x32PCs for actinics. Its a hood with a built in spider reflector. It also comes with a 4" fan. The hood comes with all that for $200 even the pc ballast. You just have to buy the PFO ballast $175 and the lamps. IF you ever want to upgrade to 250 you just have to change out the ballast and the bulb thats it. Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 IMO canopies end up looking dumb anyway. They are the same height (or higher) than a tank. Seems kind silly compared to having an open tank with a decent pendant. Have you searched here on clams and 70W? are they bright enough? Link to comment
theclearblue Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 I've just gone through looking at prices for these PFO MH/PC hoods, so I'll share the wealth. Lowest price I could find was at Custom Aquatics for 189.99 followed by Ocean Encounter at 198.95. You might want to use a IceCap ballast on this Champion Lighting has it for 109.90 on sale for the 250w. Apparently you'll have to splice the wires as PFO uses their own quick connect fitting from their fixtures to the ballast. Anyone chime in if I've made mistakes with any of the above statements. HTH EDIT: Oops, I didn't noticed you had already ordered something. Hopefully this will help someone out there then. Link to comment
ravenlot Posted March 7, 2004 Author Share Posted March 7, 2004 That's alright. Bring on the tips! I could use more information on lighting. When I get another tank, this will all be good to know. Link to comment
kgbenson Posted March 7, 2004 Share Posted March 7, 2004 Before you splice - try this: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp...dproduct=PF2815 Keith Link to comment
theclearblue Posted March 8, 2004 Share Posted March 8, 2004 yeah, I saw that, but is it really worth 12 bucks? then again I'm a moron when it comes to anything involving electronics. I can already see my fixture burning. Link to comment
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