1000 watt for 75g

[Axolotl]

Hello. I have an opportunity to get a great deal on a mh + hps combo ballast and lighting fixture for my 75g its a single bulb reflector. Is this overkill? If i mount it high enough i would be able to control the heat and grow some awesome hard coral. What do you guys think? Its basically brand new. Would i even want to use the hps for coral? Probably just the mh? Have any of you ever had this big a light on a tank this size? Thanks!

[tkeracer619]

If you are only keeping sps, maybe high light clams, have a chiller, and aquascape for some overhangs if you want lps then it might work. Keep in mind with that wattage the ballast is the cheap part. The power to run it will soon surpass that. Pick a bulb then pick a ballast.

[Axolotl]

Okay i have two other options. 2x250 watts mh with 2 reflectors on one ballast or 2x150 watt mh with 2 reflectors both around the same price. I just want the most light for my buck wo frying anything and being able to produce great penetrating light to the top and bottom of my 75 gallon. I am wanting to be able to keep sps, lps, softies and carpet nems.

[Mark Bianco]

My .02 worth Way too much light I had 2 150watt 20 k MH and 2 130 dual attinic PC for years Plenty of light clams whatever. Here is something to think about 4 to 5 watts per gallon is the standard rule. Now if you are talking about led's then that is a whole other ball game. I don't want to start a war here so enough said about led's...

[bucksfan1976]

I had a dual 250w combo on my 65 gallon and it was WAY to much jumped my temp by 3-5 degreese and I had a 5 gal top off system it would go dry in 2 days. I went down to dual 150 watts and the temp never raised and my water ran out after about 2 weeks. I have always gone with the 4-5 watt rule per gallon. Again some will disagree. I burnt out my ballasts so I went back to a 6 x 39 t5 fixture and I have LPS and SPS. Clams are something I know nothing of.

[Essencereef]

Way overkill!!! Your tank needs no more than 2x 250W metal halides for ANY coral.

2x 150W Double Ended bulbs will suffice for almost any corals even placed on the bottom.

I ran 750W of halides (3x250W) above my 180 and had too much light with Radium bulbs.

[Axolotl]

Pretty funny guys Im a noob and was searching for a mh deal on craigslist. I just likethewaythewater shimmers with these bulbs. I haveseen somevery pretty sps tanks on youtube that ran alot of mh. Probably ran chillers as well. Thanksfor the advice though guys.

[reefereef]

nevermind the wattage of the setup , try finding popular reef spectrum bulbs in 1000w. stick with a couple 250's HQI radiums.

[Axolotl]

Ok i got the 2x150 watt metal halides at 14k. Its pretty blue. I had 3x30 watt cfl at 6500k bulbs rigged over the carpet. Now with three times the wattage on the tank it seems dimmer. Is this because of the color temp spectrum. Was my carpet better off with the cfls?

[Toddrtrex]

Our eyes are terrible at determining how much usable light is being given off. While your old lights seemed brighter, the new ones are most likely putting out a decent increase in PAR. In fact you may want to acclimate that S. haddoni to the new lights -- I have found using 3 layers of window screening (( supported by egg crate )), and removing a layer every 5-7 days helps a great deal.


EDIT -- if you look at the right side of my 75 you can see the screening,

[Axolotl]

Will he get burned? What do you have on that tank? Its reeeally blue.

[Toddrtrex]

There is a chance that it will start to bleach -- expel some of its internal algae that is the main source of food.

20,000K XM DE's; the picture was a lot bluer than the tank looked like in real life.

[Axolotl]

What is xm de's? Is that metal halide? LED's?

[Toddrtrex]

XM is the brand name.
DE -- double ended, a type of bulb. 150's are DEs.

[allsps40]

I run 2 250w MH on their own ballast as is normal, on my 75g and I keep mainly sps. 1000w is way to much.

[supervdl]

I agree 1000 Watt is way too much. save the money on your electricity bill.