Switching Over to MH [Update]

Let's influence her right now
Where's Eric at?

 

I don't know what it is, but there's something about how MH affect corals that T5s just don't do. Again, I don't want to let new hobbyists think T5s aren't good, I just didn't have much luck with them.Of course I could get the new lights and could see no difference, but I'm up for the experiment.

Dingo, to answer your question before, I'm not necessarily looking for "pop" but overall a better depth of color. I got my green slimer from a local guy who had it under 400w MH and it was a dark emerald green and seemed to flouresce almost, I got it and it turned a more bright flourescent green. Same with my Forest Fire Milli, sunset monti, red/orange digitata, blue mili, frogspawn, chalice, Garf Bonsai etc. They all have color, just not the depth of color they had when I first got them from a tank with MH.

 

Even though some experts claim it has no effect on corals, that is the benefit of having UVA light enter the tank

Keep in mind, a halide is not a fix all for every single color out there! it is highly dependent on the bulb (spectral output) and the wattage (intensity of the specified output). If you remember back a while ago, you commented on a thread of mine about an ORA salmon pink monti that just wouldnt turn pink for me. The fix was to add more blue because apparently the "pink" photosystem of that monti depended on a more blue wavelength. This is true for all types of corals though, its all about meeting their required wavelengths!
Now ive had a frag of ORA bali green slimer for like 9 months now and it kept its nice color but just doesnt want to grow a centimeter! i have no clue what its problem is but i know its happy with the lighting because it has color to it...

 

I wager you will not need a chiller. I'm in Colorado no AC. My 60g sump is in a closet exposed to the foundation. Tank is in lower lever where it is coolest. All I needed is a fan on my 90 with 2x250w MH. Fixture is 6" off water no canopy or tops. In fact, now that I'm breaking it down, I don't run the halides and the heater kicked on the other day durring the day. Metal halides do not equal chillers. The heat balance of your system.... the heat loss, the heat input, the atmopheric conditions and humidity play a huge part in temp control.

Aclimate your corals, but then turn up the lights. I was under the impression you can have too much light. A few in my local area are of this belief and I only ran my 14ks 6-7 hours a day. Well my corals just were not getting the color. I finally read more and there is no way we can give "too much" light. Turned my lights up to 9 hours and the colors just went crazy. If corals are starved for light they grow more algae and loose colors. They grow and live fine, just don't have the color. I was very happy with the turn around..... then I broke down the tank.

 

Don't want to hijack the thread but I am debating lighting myself right now. For my 130gallon, I have a Nova Extreme 4x56W T5 that I moved from my 55 gallon. Bulbs are 10 months old, so it is about time to replace them. I am thinking of adding two MH's in addition to that fixture. Question is what wattage? 2x150W or 2x250W or....

And then for both the T5 bulbs and the MH bulbs what spectrum should I get??? Overall, I've had growth but not great growth. Really, I want a balance of growth and depth of color.

While I am asking.... what brand MH ballast and reflector? I'd prefer not to over spend but want something that'll last and that I'll be happy with.

Thanks
Mark

 

I know I ran electronic ballast, but most bulbs are speced for HQI. I ran Pheonix 14ks which are speced for M81 ballasts I think. I always liked my 14Ks on my Galaxy ballast, but most claim the Pheonix actually look washed out and have that "diluted windex" look what ever that means.

Now If I had to do it all over again..... I have seen many tanks locally with Radium single end 400w bulbs on magnetic ballast as they should be and just .... WOW. The most beautiful bulbs I have seen. Incredible colors and good growth. The Radium 400w SE is down right legendary and I see why. They are pretty exspensive though

Many say Pheonix 14K are very close to SE Radiums if ran on proper ballasts... at least as close as you will get. If I was on a budget, I would stick with Pheonix 14K since they give the best color and growth and are relatively cheap. However, I would not run them on a E-ballast like Galaxy. I would run them on the M81 ballast they are speced for.

 

Welcome to the HID side.

I have both t5's and halides one tanks, honestly I just prefer halide. I do feel t5 puts out some killer par for the first few months but after that halide trumps it.

 

Haha you guys are terrible! Well, MH is going to have to wait. I just opened up half of my bills from my hospital stay.....

 

4 words KC.. Can I Finance That... ;D

Just kidding, the jewish blood in me does not allow me to spend more than 15% of my income.. It sucks, I blame my grandparents for the anti-spending disease.

 

I was planning on using a galaxy electronic ballast with the Phoenix 14k bulbs, but I was also considering 20K XM bulbs and 14K AquaMaxx bulbs, any input on those?