just not sure

[phislet]

I've spent hours browsing through all the posts on halide lighting and find myself getting confused and concerned. I currently run 6 110w vho bulbs on my 125 gallon mixed reef (mostly softies but a few sps). I'd like to move to halides and continue using my vho actinics for dusk/dawn.

So to upgrade I welcome your comments on the following:
1) upgrade to two 250 watt 10,000K Ushio's (with 2 110 watt vho actinics)
2) upgrade to two 400 watt 10,000K Ushio's (with 2 110 watt vho actinics)

Any other better recommendations? I know many have preference to 20,000 K radiums but I want to continue using my actinic vho for dusk/dawn and I think that the actinics in combination with the 20000k will be to blue.

Thanks

 

[Will C1]

3 250 10k bulbs

 

[mountainbiker619]

what is the length of your 125? I am sure you will have to run 3 seperated MH's to get no dark spots. But I recommend 3 250's.

 

[phislet]

sorry... it is 5 feet in length

 

[mountainbiker619]

my 100 gal is 5 ft long and I have 3 MH's on it. The depth of your 125 must be around 30 inches, yes?

 

[danmhippo]

3x 250MH 14000K without additional actinic

 

[Marcosreef]

3x 250MH 14000K without additional actinic

I'll Second That. I run 2x 250MH 14000K without actinic on my 75.

Best Regards,

Marco

 

[Telochupoto]

I have a 90G tank and I use 4 X 110Watt URI Super Actinics VHO's and 2 X 250Watt IWASAKI 6500K Metal Halides. It [the tank] gets a nice color to it, but I'm thinking of adding a pair of 28 or 36Watt Power Compacts to start the day off and add some more blue effect to the tank since the Metal Halides do give out a lot of light; and to think I was first going to get 400Watt Metal Halides.

PS: I run the VHOs off a Hellolights.Com [ARO] ballast which just ran me about $ 235.00 for the Retro kit [including the 4 X URI bulbs]; and the Metal Hallides I run them off single 250Watt ballast that I got from a guy on eBay [AguaTierra,Ltd.] and they work just fine. Point of my saying this is to let you guys know that VHO and MH set ups don't have to cost you an arm and a leg, my whole lighting system is no more than $500.00; as some systems on the net are getting an absurd price tag.

Ohh, almost forgot, if you guys want to get a nice looking "Dusk til' Dawn" effect going in your tank, what I have running for that is three SuperbrightLEDs.com MR-16 retrofitted bulbs with 12 4270nm LEDs. This are running off a Hamilton Lighting [not the expensive one, the one for house use] Trac Lite that takes three MR-16 bulbs. It may cost a little more than a 25Watt party bulb w/ socket [well, way more, the whole thing ran me about $40.00, without shipping]; but the lighting effect that I get is way more "natural" than the blue party bulbs. Then again this is just a thought, my 2 cents.

 

[Telochupoto]

NOTE: The Power Compacts will be Actinic 03 ["true actinics"]; and the LEDs are 470nm, not 4270nm, sorry for the typo.