Metal Halide for a 40b?

[Awesomeaaron]

I am setting up a new 40 gallon breeder and I am wondering if this lighting system would be good for most coral? The lighting system is :

 

36" Odyssea 2 X 150w metal halide, 2 X 65w power compact actinic and 3 X 1w LED moonlight lighting system

 

This is my first reef tank. Thanks for your help!

[mcarroll]

I am setting up a new 40 gallon breeder and I am wondering if this lighting system would be good for most coral? The lighting system is :

 

36" Odyssea 2 X 150w metal halide, 2 X 65w power compact actinic and 3 X 1w LED moonlight lighting system

 

This is my first reef tank. Thanks for your help!

 

 

Overkill.

 

I've run a 50 breeder (taller version of your tank) for years on 2 x 150w Radiums as an SPS tank....no issues with corals...growing and looking good on the bottom glass as well as on the top glass.

 

Depending on what you're keeping in this tank (and assuming you must have this light) I'd consider running only the halides or only the PC's - not both. For example, if you're happy with LPS and/or your SPS mostly at the top of the tank, you might be fine saving the power and just using the PC's. If you really want coral everywhere...top to bottom, then you might want to run the halides instead.

 

I would only run both halides and PC's if the light were over a much deeper tank....not worth the cost in both power and bulb replacements to run both sets of lights in your case though.

 

-Matt

[acropora1981]

My personal choice for a system like that(outside of led) would be a single 250w pendant. Easy.

[Awesomeaaron]

Overkill.

 

So what you are saying is that this light is too much? What other light would you recommend?

Like I said, this is my first time doing a reef, I'll start out with soft corals and them I would like to keep sps corals down the line. I would like to buy a good light now rather than later on.

Thanks! Aaron

[Degener8]

+1 to buying once instead of many times. The light you listed will grow anything you want to grow in your tank. With it being a shallower tank you can likely hang the light a bit higher to start so you dont burn up your softies you said you would start with.

 

How you employ the light listed is up to you. You can grow what ever you want in the future. When startingyour tank lights are not even necessary for cycling. When you put some softies in you may find you only need the PC lighting to keep them happy. Later on once you get some LPS or SPS you will need the halide.

 

LED is a good option also If you have not looked into them you probably should before settling on a light. If your handy you can DIY from a kit or from scratch and save you alot of $ from replacing bulbs and in electricity costs.

[mcarroll]

So what you are saying is that this light is too much? What other light would you recommend?

Like I said, this is my first time doing a reef, I'll start out with soft corals and them I would like to keep sps corals down the line. I would like to buy a good light now rather than later on.

 

Sorry I missed your reply! Let us know if you've already pulled the trigger on something!

 

Also, you never really mentioned what your installation would be like. Will you be parking the fixture on the tank rim? Suspending it pendant style? (Etc?)

 

If you have specific plans for a 36" tank deeper than the one you have now, then that light you named could be a logical "buy bigger" type of purchase. Otherwise, halide is power hungry and heat inducing - I wouldn't recommend going bigger than necessary unless the fixture can "size down" when needed as well as up.

 

As someone else said, a single 250w+fluorescents would be acceptable - if a bit crazy on the shadowing from having only a single point light source. Not for me, but appropriate rock layout should get you around this to an extent, and on the good side you have only one halide bulb to replace. A center brace on your tank kills this option. (Not sure on your tank.)

 

The option I would consider if you're die-hard on using halides and want something truly flexible enough to take to a deeper tank later:

Hamilton Technology's Deluxe

halide-only hood.

 

I'd suggest buying it as a 175w system and run 20,000K bulbs. Hamilton's house brand bulb is very nice for the money. Radium's are the cream of the crop, but come only in 250w and 400w flavors.

 

This is a fixture that could be worth taking to a bigger tank later since it uses single-ended bulbs. You can easily convert this fixture to a 250w or 400w Radium system just by swapping ballasts.

 

Any of their "Cebu Sun" fixtures are similar but include T5's as well....unnecessary with 20K bulbs IMO, but again if you want em they are available.

 

Depending on your installation, a DIY halide setup is worth considering as well. Get a good ballast or two and some reflectors...

 

Having said all that, I'd be strongly considering LED's if I were you.

 

There are lots of good reasons that have been detailed in other threads here and elsewhere, so I'll just hit you with a big one:

I was spending over $400

per year

for my old two-bulb halide fixture. I was replacing two 20K lamps two to three times per year along with the electricity to power them!

 

I replaced that halide fixture (a 36" Coralife Aqualight Advanced that I liked a lot) with a home-built GU10 based LED fixture.

The whole thing, excluding my labor, cost me less than the cost of one bulb-replacement cycle

- or less than half of what it cost to operate my halide for a year!

 

Here's the

main related thread

here on N-R.

 

I also have some related entries on my blog

over here

you may find interesting.

GU10's are the most inexpensive and simplest DIY-way I know of to get into LED's, but they are far from the only way and all are far less expensive to run than either halide or T5 systems. There are other very worthy DIY schemes as well as a number of worthy commercial LED fixtures.

 

Give us some more details on your system if you haven't already pulled the trigger on a new light. If you have - let's see pics!!!

 

-Matt

[ajmckay]

Good info matt...

 

I run a single 250w DE hamilton fixture over my tank (14K) and it was awesome at first, but gradually the cost of replacing bulbs wears on you. Also it generates quite a bit of heat, and I have my pendant hung about 12" off the water! The light quality is great though on good bulbs.

 

If you want a cheaper up-front but don't mind the running costs a single 250w should suit you well. And you can find them used for really cheap since a lot of people are switching to LED. You could probably find a nice MH pendant w/ballast for under $100 easy.

[franklypre]

Odyssea<any 250w pheonix in just about any fixture. I have owned 2 and you can check my tank link at the bottom to see the difference for yourself.

[ajmckay]

I forgot, I'm actually selling a 250W HQI made by PFO. It's a pendant light and everything is in great condition. It works out good for a 40b and there's minimal light spill into the room. Let me know if you're interested I'll probably sell it for like $80 + shipping.

 

It's this one: PFO pendant - Marine Depot

And comes with this ballast: PFO 250w ballast - Marine Depot

 

Then put in this bulb: http://www.marinedepot.com/14000K_Metal_Ha...UMHDEHW-vi.html

These bulbs are pretty cheap, and they give off an excellent light...