400 watt halide question

[BadFish.t.o.]

I have a 60"x30"24" sps tank in the works and am planning on using 400 watt metal halides.

I'm thinking Lumenarc mini's for my reflectors, but my ballast and bulb combo is still up in the air.

All suggestions are welcome, and pictures backing up your choice would be nice too

[BadFish.t.o.]

Well, no replies yet, so let me tweak the original question.
First, are 2 Lumenarc mini's going to give me enough spread to light the whole tank, or should i go for the full-size Lumenarc's?

After reading a whole lot of threads about bulb and ballast combos I'm split between PFO ballasts with 14k Aquaconnect bulbs OR Icecap e-ballasts with 12k reeflux bulbs.

[8BALL_99]

Lumenarc mini's are good for about a 24"x24" Full sized ones are good for about 36"x36" I'd probably get the full sized ones if it was me..But really either would work.. Depends on how high up you want to mount the reflectors.. The higher up the more spread you get but less intensity.

Bulb Ballast is really up to you.. I use 20k Xms on electronics. I like it.. But to each his own..

[shelburn61]

Originally posted by BadFish.t.o.

After reading a whole lot of threads about bulb and ballast combos I'm split between PFO ballasts with 14k Aquaconnect bulbs OR Icecap e-ballasts with 12k reeflux bulbs.

You can't lose with either choice IMO and I think the minis would be fine.

I run 2xreeflux over a 120, but if I had the width you do I would run 2x 250w XM10k and 4x T5 blue+ . This is the ultimate color combo IMO b/c the reeflux lacks a little in reds and yellows IME. You would get higher PAR at fewer watts.

[ganjero]

400w reeflux 12k / coralvue ballast

[BadFish.t.o.]

Originally posted by shelburn61
You can't lose with either choice IMO and I think the minis would be fine.

I run 2xreeflux over a 120, but if I had the width you do I would run 2x 250w XM10k and 4x T5 blue+ . This is the ultimate color combo IMO b/c the reeflux lacks a little in reds and yellows IME. You would get higher PAR at fewer watts.

Interesting. Maybe i could supplement the reeflux with fiji purples and a daylight bulb to bring out the reds and yellows? I have read that the XM bulbs are meant to be fired on a probe start ballast so i'm not sure i'll go that route.

Originally posted by ganjero
400w reeflux 12k / coralvue ballast

I was considering the coralvue e-ballasts as they're much cheaper, but i have read that they are not the most reliable and that some people have had customer service issues. Thats not something i want to deal with.

[shelburn61]

Originally posted by BadFish.t.o.
Interesting. Maybe i could supplement the reeflux with fiji purples and a daylight bulb to bring out the reds and yellows? I have read that the XM bulbs are meant to be fired on a probe start ballast so i'm not sure i'll go that route.

I've run the XMs on both ballasts. XM did design them to run on probe but they should presumably last longer on an e-ballast. In any case you get, the same PAR from the XM at 250w that you get from the CV at 400w... both are ~115 per Sanjay. On probe you get ~130 at 300w

[BadFish.t.o.]

Thanks very much. Looks like i'll be going with your original suggestion: XM 250s with 4 HOT5s