lighting?

[RZA2222]

I currently have a 48" 4-65 watt PC fixture on a 75 gal tank with shrooms, zoos, BTA's (they keep splitting), star polyps, ricordea, sun coral. I want to upgrade to metal halide but I dont know if this is a good idea with all of the softies. I was considering purchasing only one light now and lighting half of my tank under MH & PC. Or should I sell the PC fixture and get a new MH hood?

Need Direction!!!!

[Henry]

What direction do you plan to go with your tank? 2-250 is always nice in my book.

[RZA2222]

want to keep mostly the same but I want my colonies to thrive and it seems they just dont do that with PC lighting. I wouldn't mind getting some LPS corals but mostly softies. The real confusing part is deciding which kelvin rating to go with.

[CD]

Softies will be fine with MHs...of course you will want to keep them at the bottom of your tank once the MHs are installed, and putting the lights on a chain that can be slowly lowered to get your existing corals used to the light (otherwise they'll burn) a little at a time will be the best approach. The BTAs are probably going to appreciate the MHs more than you think...with sun corals, it doesn't matter as they get their nourishment from what you feed them, NOT from the light...put these in a "shaded" spot or under a ledge also, as too strong a light will cause them to look like a dried prune.

Just out of curiosity - why the MHs? Are you going to put some SPS in with your softies? If you are only planning on maybe some LPS with your softies, I think maybe 250s would be the way to go (400w 10ks would be way overkill unless you are planning on SPS)...T5's maybe?

OH BTW RZA2222 - WELCOME to MAAST!!! :D

W. :)

[RZA2222]

Would it be better to get/make a T5 light hood and then add MH if I decide to go SPS, or just keep PC and add two MH's.

[GaryP]

If you are going to go the T5 route just make sure to get the true actinic bulbs and not the super blue bulbs.

To bad you missed the meeting this weekend. Donnie has a very nice T5 set-up on his softie tank. Personally, I run VHO's on my softie tank. I have 4 X 110 watt (46.5") on a 75 gal.

[RZA2222]

are T5's better for soft coral (growth and overall heath) than PC?

[GaryP]

Light is light. As I understand it, the only advatage to the T5s is a more efficient reflector system resulting from the smaller bulb diameter. The T5 bulbs are also supposed to last longer between replacement but call me a skeptic on that issue.

[RZA2222]

So if I got 2-250 watt MH's and kept the 4-65 watt PC's I wouldn't cook my softies w/too much light?(assuming they are at the bottom of the tank) And would be able to get SPS in the future?

[GaryP]

What are the dimensions of your tank? 4 ft. X ????

[GaryP]

If you are going with the PC as an actinic supplemtnt I would probably prefer using VHO's. If you are staying with PCs make sure they are true actinic bulbs that peak at the 420 nm wavelength.

[RZA2222]

48Lx18Wx22H

[RZA2222]

so use 10K MH and change all four PC's to true actinic bulbs?

[GaryP]

That would be a total of 760 watts. Your footprint is 6 square feet.

A good number to use for SPS and clams is at least 100 watts per square foot. You would be at 126. You might have a hard time squeezing all that inside of a 4 ft. hood. Also plan for cooling. That's going to be an issue as well.

[RZA2222]

True, as you put numbers to it I am definately thinking that is way too much.

[RZA2222]

I'm thinking more like 2-110 watt vho's with 2-175 watt MH would be closer to the lighting needs of my tank.

[GaryP]

A single 250 MH would probably be plenty, 85 watt/sq. ft. The only time I have had a problem with to much light on my softies is with blue/purple mushrooms.

I'm only running 90 on my SPS/clam tank.

[don-n-sa]

gary...how many watts per square foot do I have?

[GaryP]

gary...how many watts per square foot do I have?

54 watts/sq. ft. is what I come up with, which is perfectly fine for softies. I have 73 watts of VHO in my softy tank but I don't have the T5 reflectors that you do. Mine is VHO.

[Henry]

I don't think you will have too much of a problem with the two 250s, plus you will probably have more bulb option with the 250 vs the 175. Either way you should be fine. I like to error on the side of more, especially since most ppl will eventually upgrade at a later date. also the price difference is very small. best of luck

[RZA2222]

THX for all the input