Venturing into MH

[cvonseggern]

I want to get a MH pendant to hang over one end of our 5' 100g. I've never used MH lighting before and I still find it pretty confusing. Can anyone make any recommendations on what to use? I'm thinking something like a single 250W 10K...any comments? Any suggestions as to brand or where to get it, other than maybe hellolights?

Thanks,

Chris

[::pete::]

There are many to choose from and it would depend on what you are keeping also. Then there is the color factor 10K being white and 20K being blue with the others between giving a mix. There are many sites besides hellolights that deal with MH so your best bet is to figure what you want then search for the best deal or you could wait for a group order and save that way.

[NaCl_H2O]

Premium Aquatics and Marine Depot have a wide selection of MH choices. Wattage depends mostly on tank depth, and color depends on what's in the tank, and the color "you" want. Some corals (SPS) thrive in 65K, which isn't the most appealing color (Yellowish), so you need to add PC or VHO actinics with these to keep the humans happy too!

It is a confusing mess, I have been reading and studying Websites for months getting lights for my new system.

Keep reading and post more questions when you get (more) confused :?

[GaryP]

Another factor to consider in conjunction with color is par value. A 10K bulb will give you greater par (light output) than a 20K. Of course you give up some of the colors by doing so. Par is an important factor for coral growth. While the greens, blues, and purples are great under 20K, you won't see the oranges and reds like you will under a 10K.

I've run everything from 6.5K to 14K MH's and have settled on 10K with VHO actinic supplementing them. I think that gives me the best balance. I think the answer is that you will never get a good balance running only one bulb. My current plan is to add a 20K MH on my next lighting remodel. Another problem with 20K MH is that they don't put out the 420 nm light that corals need. That's one advantage of the VHO over PC's and MH's.

On my 125 gal. I'm running 2 X 250 watt 10K and 2 X 140 watt 20K actinic VHO's. The only problem I currently have is that the 10K's partially wash out the actinics. That's why I am thinking about adding the 20K.

Gary

[dan]

i don't think that your going to like just one mh at one end of the tank. i have a frind that has one light at one end and when it's on the other end looks dark even though he's running VHO's. the mh put out so much light that it drowns out all the other lights. thats JMO

[cpreefguy]

A cool think that Ive seen is to put a MH on each end of the tank, on one end put a 10,000k and on the other put a 20,000k. It creates an awesome shallow to deep water illusion.

[cvonseggern]

Well, the problem with MH at both ends of the tank is that the one end is well within child's arm reach of the stairs, and I don't want to go scorching the children. My son still insists on stomping fire ant nests despite the 150+ stings he's received since May. Burned fingers won't even slow him down.