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10/04/2008, 12:50 PM
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#1 |
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President of Calenders
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: huntington beach CA
Posts: 167
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How bright of lights?
I am in the process of building a new hood and I am torn between two lights. My tank is 48x18x18 (75 gallons or so) and I am going to add two metal halides. Will two 175s be enough or will I get more out of 250s? I am almost afraid of 2 250s being too much.
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10/04/2008, 01:07 PM
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#2 |
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im an addict lol
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Land o lakes, FLorida
Posts: 12,930
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well that depends on what you are keeping in it and what K lights you want. if you are keeping SPS then I would go with the 250W and put in the 20K radiums!!!! you will love the color they make the corals pop. if you are not keeping SPS then way over kill
the 2 175s are nice for that tank as most everything would be happy under that in a 14K bulb. JMO good luck
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Goal levels: salinity 35ppt, temp 78-79, alk 8-9, cal 430-450, mag 1310-1400 po4 .03, no3 1-3 Current Tank Info: System 1... 100 gal Zoa tank I built, 30 gal Ric Yuma shroom tank, 30 gal mix tank my sons,40 gal softie tank, 40 gal nem tank, two 40 gal LPS tank. System 2... 240 gal SPS display attached 100 gal frag SPS only tank. |
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10/04/2008, 01:24 PM
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#3 |
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President of Calenders
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: huntington beach CA
Posts: 167
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Well my ultimate goal is to have SPS coral. If 2 175s might not be enough then I will go with the 2 250s. Thanks for the help!
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10/04/2008, 01:46 PM
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#4 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: PA
Posts: 266
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I run 2-250 watt 20k XM's MH with 2-96 watt actinics on my 75 gallon tank with LPS's and SPS's and they all love it....... they have a great tint of blue.... if this helps you out any....
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10/04/2008, 02:12 PM
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#5 |
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President of Calenders
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: huntington beach CA
Posts: 167
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yeah foxhuntr that definitely helps! id love to see a pic of your tank =D looks like I will be picking up my first 250 today.
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10/04/2008, 02:20 PM
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#6 |
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Moving About
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: RTP NC
Posts: 2,405
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I ran 2-250 watt MHs and 2-110 watt VHOs over my 90 which had the same foot print but only taller. It let me have any kind of coral I wanted and then some.
I run 250 watt bulbs on a 29" deep 210g tank with no problems and have SPS half way down in it......Its all in the reflectors On a 75 you could get away with 175 watt MH and have SPS at the top and middle if you ran good reflectors with no problems. The best bulbs and best par can be cut down dramatically using bad reflectors that let it all bleed outside the tank. Get the best reflectors you can and you will be amazed at what some of the bulbs can do......... Edited I shouldn't have said " Its all in the reflectors " but the reflectors play a major part in it. The bulbs play a major part in it too as some have some pretty bad par ratings as well as coloring output...like pink tones on some older not named bulbs.....
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-Mike I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. W. C. Fields Current Tank Info: JUST SOLD AND TOOK DOWN ALL 11/10---210g AGA, 80g sump, Tunze Streams. Tunze ATO,RK Elite Controller, RKII,Dart, GEO Calcium& Nielsen Kalk Reactors,GEO media reactor, Kaleini Rock, 3-250 watt 14k EVC , VHO..... 34g Solana and 60g cube Last edited by Phyxius; 10/04/2008 at 02:40 PM. |
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10/04/2008, 02:34 PM
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#7 |
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Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: hampton roads, va
Posts: 1,799
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been there done that. IF you use the best bulbs 175w has to offer (Iwasaki 15k,aqualine AB 13k, XM 10k ) 175w will work just fine. anything less and you will be wishing you had went with a 250w set up. I kept a crocea and all types of acro with 175w aqualine bulbs and blue wave pulse start ballast. growth was crazy! my 150w HQI set up SUCKS in comparison. Problem with 175w bulbs are you BETTER like those bulbs because many popular bulbs like radiums ect arent available in 175w
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