par 38 vs 150 watt MH

I am making a tough dicition. For christmas i am looking into par 38 led lights.
now i have 2 150 watt clip on mh lights on my 72 gallon bow. my lfs said to replace them i will need 4 of the par 38's. i am growing soffties and lots of lps corals now and dont want any problems if i switch my lighting. let me know what you would do if you were me.
also if i do swich how would i aclimate my corals to the new lighting?
have a good day!

 

PAR38 can comes with many different Watts. Some of them only 9watts, and I don't think 4x9W cree can match a 150W MH in any ways. Some of the PAR38 can go as high as 20W+ and then there is a small chance you can match it, but they usually cost a lot more. What not just get a regular fixtures?

 

4 PAR30's even in the largest size will not compete with 300w's of MH...

 

Here's TWO PAR38s over a frag tank (includes SPS):

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...rivals-aquascapers-140493-21.html#post1423695

Looks more than capable to me.

 

ita all about the high and lenght vs the watts. just look into the distance it penatrates and the par at that debth. lets say that its over 200 par at 15 inches under the water then if you got 4 over you tank then you can get really good growth at lets say 18 inches.

just a though, look into the bulbs that you are getting and the company that makes them. look for reptiable and par chartd before you make a decision.

HTH

 

I think they are either 36 or 39 watts each? and they are not to bad $100 per bulb. my lfs uses them in his tank and things are doing well. i am mostly interested because my mh give it a yellow look and the leds will bring out the colour

 

I think that for the cost of four good quality par38's and the fixtures to use them in you could opt for two very nice and maybe either controllable or dimmable fixtures that would light your tank very well and give you total control over the color.If we are talking about a christmas gift from your parents you could help justify it to them with the very big difference in energy cost.i recently switched from a 250watt halide to led(razor 120watt) and my electric bill was reduced by about 25 dollars per month.

 

Really 25 a month! thats alot for just a light. what lighting do you recomend other than par 38? my christmas budget is $500 give or take a bit? if there are better lights i will happily buy them!

 

I want a kessil a350 or a350w for my cube, $400 90 watt led, dimmiable too if I'm not mistaken...

 

^^^That's my frag tank with the PAR bulbs over it. (Thank you, Mr. Bill) They work very well over the 30 breeder, but for a DT, a 120 watt LED fixture would work better and cost less. A 72 bow is a much deeper tank. You would probably need four PAR bulbs to get good coverage. If you do go LED, be very careful acclimating. They are much more powerful than they appear.