Help me spend someone elses money.

[Whitten]

I am redoing a lighing setup for a guy who got the shaft when it came to good lighting.

 

My plan is to put a single 400 watt MH over the 48 inch long 66 gallon tank. I am wondering if ya'll think that will be enough light to keep hard corals twords the top of the tank, if the tank is about 16"s deep.

 

Other wise I guess I will be having to get a dual 250 watt MH, and cut my costs for the instal.

 

Basicly I want to get this guy going with a 20,000 K bulb and lose the actinics. I want to set him up with the lights, and labor comming to around 450-500 dollars.

 

let me know.

[Korbin]

Ask Serdar at Phishybusiness.com.

 

His growout tanks are similar, and I know he uses some 400 watt and some 250 watt lights.

[Whitten]

Well as of now I am thinking that two 250's will absolutely not cut it, and one 400 may not even be enough. I think that two 400 watter HQI setups should give me my 12.1 watts per gallon rule, and also allow for us to keep clams and such.

[Undertheradar]

I have used 2 of the 250wattDE bulbs on a 60g with spectacular results.

[Korbin]

Forget watt/gallon rules.

 

You can keep crocea clams on the sandbed of a 16" tank with a 150 watt DE. I know, because I've done it.

 

Maybe on a long tank it means keeping clams closer to the center, and low light corals near the sides. That's all.

 

I think you're going to go overboard on the light if you use 2 400 watters. (remember 250 watt DE's are about as bright as a 400 watt SE)

[Raskal311]

with cost aside I'd do 2 150hqk 14k w/ 2 actinics vho:) in this case id go 250hqi 10k w/ 2 actinics vho should be about $400 or so without labor.

[Whitten]

See that is what I was thinking with the double ended bulbs. I was under the impression that they were very intense in comparison to the regualr mogul based bulbs. After some very close thought I think I am either going to go with two 250 watters, or maybe even two 150 watters. I really don't want to go too over board because that just isn't much fun for me since I will be the one having to clean up any messes or deal with any bleaching.

 

I was thinking of just doing 2 250 watt 20,000k bulbs, and elimnating his VHO's all together. That would leave me with a very clean looking setup, as well as more options as to how o mount them.

 

As of right now he has all kinds of LPS, and even some SPS under four VHO's run by an IceCap ballast. The corals look really stressed, and I have to say one reason I want to go MH on his tank is to get that stupid looking pinky hue that I so dislike out of that tank. The guy who sold him the setup said that MH's are way over priced and don't allow you to see the true color of the corals....right, like the VHO's are the pinacle of modern lighting.

 

Anyway, I had figured that two 400 watters would be over kill but wanted to run the idea past ya'll.

 

Please feel free to throw out more adivice, it is really helping alot.

[Korbin]

I still think you should talk to phishybusiness. He seems to like to experment with lighting a lot, and last time I was over there he was showing me the difference between a 400 watt SE and a 250 DE.(no visible difference BTW).

[Whitten]

I am going to call phisy business right now.

[Whitten]

Wow Korbin, the guy that I talked to was so helpful. He and I just reasoned with what is going to be in the tank, and came up with a totally differnt setup that what I had originally planed.

 

Because I know he will never keep anything more than a few Acros, and maybe a clam or two, I may just do a single 250 in the middle and keep the 4 VHO's. That way we can do like a moon lighting effect. Gonna call Hello lights next to see what they think.

[revance]

Dual 250 DE pendants... if you think they are overpowering, you can always raise them up a little.

[Whitten]

It is between the dual 250 watt DE pendants with 20,000k bulbs, or the single with a 10,000k and keeping the VHO's. I for one would like to be rid of the VHO's all together.

[Raskal311]

I was thinking the same thing when I saw that they guy already has vho.. I'd go just one 250hqi 14k or 2 150 hqi and only two vho. remember they only have a 16inch deep tank. my friends 24 inch deep 180gal tank has 3 250watt hqi and two vho corals and fish are in great health.

[Whitten]

Well, my customer went ahead and made a choice on the lighting. We are going to set him up with two PFO 250 Watt DE fixtures running 20,000 K bulbs. All of this will be running off of a PFO dual 250 watt ballast. As for the VHO setup, I am going to be selling it...even though it is brand new. It is an Ice Cap ballast that runs 4 48 inch VHO bulbs. I believe each is 55 watts, but I will have to check. I will be selling everything encluding the ballast, bulbs, wireing, and endcaps. So if anyone is looking for any VHO stuff let me know.

[Korbin]

Make sure there is surface agitation in the water, so glimmer lines show up once you add the MH.

[Whitten]

Hey Korbin, thanks for all your help. I am going to post some before and after shots of the tank so that everyone can see my handy work in building my first fuge, and also hanging the MH pendants.

 

As for the surface agitation, he has a return line comming from the mag drive 7 in the sump that has a flexible fitting with spray nozzles. Also in the tank are two Maxi-jet 1200's and man I didn't know how powerful those suckers are. Anyway, it should look absolutely gorgeous.

 

I will be back to ask questions as for as palcement for corals go, because he has alot of them that I think will need to be moved deeper with the new lighting. Some brains, torch's, and a few other types that I can't remember right off hand.