Need advice

[dwdenny]

Ok looking through the Sanjays information I keyed in the informaiton about the light setup that I wanted to go with as far as MH are concerned.

ROIII pendant with phoenix 250 14kk bulb on EVC Tech eballast 250w ballast. Came out with 79 PPFD does this sound good. I know I cn get more out of a magnetic ballast but in the living room my wife would kill me if it made a bad buzzing sound and I could not stop it. If I go this route I will not have actinic supplementation for now might have to add later though.

Or the second option is a 4X39w T5 retro with 2 GE sun(6.5KK) and 2 blueplus(20kk) and add a URI super actinic 03 95w VHO to help color things up from the yellow/green from the sun bulbs. I would like to keep a mixed reef tank. I know I could get better coverage with T5

Just looking at the best option at this point. Both will run me about the same cost wise. What are some of the benefits from both that you all have experienced.

BTW this is on 45 breeder 36"18"16"

Thanks
Doug

[fiji2000]

my blue wave VII magnetic ballast don't make any noise, running two dual 250 W HQI's, no problem.

[dwdenny]

No it it does not have to be a pendant but I was thinking that way for MH so that I could try to keep as much heat out of a canopy as possible. I know the magnetic ballast are better because they tend to overdrive the bulbs producing better numbers. What I saw on sanjays site was the the M80 ballast where running the 250w bulbs at 315w-325w. I am a little worried that this might be a little too much light. I know Anthony Calfo is a little conservative in his lighting but I do trust his knowledge and with that he recommended 150w HQI. So needless to say I am a little confused here.

[jaded]

be prepared to replace those bulbs a lot more often!!!

[dwdenny]

Joshua
If I do a pendant I would hang from the ceiling that is for sure so i would have open top tank.

Jaded that is why I was looking at the eballast so that I could get the max life out of the bulb. I know that the magnetic ballast run bulb hotter and brighter but decrease the bulbs life very fast most are replacing at 6 months harder on the wallet then PC's and VHO's LOL.

The heat is also wht I was looking at T5 technology still need to vent the canopy there but not as much heat is produced as to MH lighting. I guess I would get more bang for the buck with MH light though.

[jaded]

i'm very happy with my 2 250w MH + 2 T5 actinics set up... I wouldnt even concider anything smaller than a 250w... there is little price difference if any and I definately dont have "too much" light. I think its just about right for a large variety of life.

[dwdenny]

Yeah I would like that as well but I will have just the MH for now at least. Until I convince my wife that we need more light honey. :) But for now it will just be a 250w DE with phoenix 14kk with EVC eballast. Like I said that combo was pushing nearly 80 shielded PPFD from sanjays site.

[dwdenny]

So does any one think that the T5 setup would be ok as well. I am still trying to decide here. The glitter line are nice but really not that inportant to me. I just want to keep the system cool. We run the house at 78(whenit hits 79 the ac kicks on and cools to 76 then shuts off) during the day and it cools down to 75 at night. Not sure how much heat a single 250 will add.

[Polkster13]

I have 6 T-5's (the ballast is built into the fixture holding the bulbs and not seperate) on my 135 and two 250 watt DE on my 150 and the MH gets a lot hotter than the T-5's! :o

[dwdenny]

yeah that is what I am a little worried about. It will be Pendant if I go MH so should help keep heat down a little.