buying new MH need sugestions!

K-1 Metal Halide Lamps These any good, my LFS has these and i would be geting one 400W with a 14k bulb for now. and plan on getting 2 more in the close future. I think they run there for around 250ish. I wanna go with SE so if anyone could reccomend some for around the same price or cheaper I would appreciate it!
Thanks!
-Jordan

 

The price is fairly reasonable IMO.

I'm not sure I like the look of the reflector in the picture. Do they offer different reflectors? Something like this. Parabolic Reflector

 

Yeah, I think those are the same ones they have in the box. Im going to go check them out right now! Do you think 3 400W is too much for a 180G 72x24x24? or maybe 1 400W in the middle and 2 250's on the sides? I want to get allot of sps in this tank! thanks for the fast response! Can you tell im excited??
-Jordan

 

If you were going with 20k's, I would go with all 400's. However, 14k's have a LOT more PAR than the 20k's and 2 250's would be acceptable IMO.

Make sure when you mount them, you mount them the proper direction. I can't tell you how many tanks I've seen where people mounted the MH's parallel to the front glass. This is a complete waste....half of the light is reflected to the front and back glass. They are supposed to be mounted perpindicular to the front glass. In this way, the area where the PAR drops off from one MH at the bottom of the tank is supplemented by the lighting from the next MH over.

 

It's funny that you posted that link. I was looking at them the other day and was saying to myself "That reflector looks like a flat, cheap piece of metal" ;D
Kurt was thinking the same as I was....
If you decide to buy them You should give them a review so others can see how you feel about them. I would like to see a spectral plot of their bulbs.
Good Luck and +2 on the wattage, 250 should be plenty if you go with the lower K value (10 or 14)

Jim

 

Hey thanks guys for the advise. I just got back from the LFS and they are using the same lights on a 240G. The have the parobolic reflector and they come stock with 14k bulbs. On there 240 they have 3 400w all with 14k bulbs, he said that the k value is good enough so thats why he didnt have any actinics. I was thinking of going with one 400w 14k in the middle and 2 250x 14k on the sides. Is that why you guys are advising? that way i could have the sps in the middle and lps/softies on the sides.

 

That was your plan and I had no problem with it. If you keep your water clean enough, you could go with 3 250's IMO and raise SPS anywhere you wanted to.

Here's what typically happens. People get used to raising 'dirty water' corals and eventually want to add SPS to the mix. Within a couple of weeks, the SPS stops being colorful and starts to become a brown stick. There's a reason for that. SPS live in oligotrophic conditions and they put their SPS colony or frag into a nutrient-rich environment. Zoox are brown (vast oversimplification) and they start reproducing rapidly. Therefore, the colony or frag quickly becomes brown.

There's two ways to fix this....crank up the lighting until the coral gets too much Oxygen from the zoox and kicks most of the zoox out. (Then the color returns). Another way is to keep the water extra clean and then the zoox doesn't build up and turn the coral brown. In the second case, you don't need massive lighting at all. Most of my SPS prop tank was lit by nothing more than PC lighting which most people think is impossible.

 

Wow Curt,
Im very impressed with your knowledge! karma to the professor! Well I think that will work out good because i am also going to buy a pretty strong skimmer that will keep the water pretty clean. Im thinking of the asm g3 LFS recommended it also they have it in stock. curious if this is good for the money (I think it was around 350) or if anything is better for them money. But I think a strong skimmer and lighting combo will be good for the sps from your info curt. Thanks again for your help!
-Jordan

 

I really like ASM skimmers. Sounds like a plan to me.

Use the coloration of the SPS as a guide. If they start lightening up, feed the fish a little more (while continuing to export waste efficiently).

 

Perfect! Thanks again curt.
-Jordan