To Halide or not is the question???

I agree with Scott...If you have the ability to hang, or raise or lower your light, go ahead with the 250.

Mine sits right on the tank with a plexiglass cover and is about 4 inches from the water surface.

The one thing with halides is they do punch down through the water. Lighting is more intense centered under the lamp, but the higher you raise it , to spread the light, the less light actually gets to the bottom! It's a paradigm! LOL!

I keep animals with higher needs in the center. I have a clam center bottom of my tank and he is , well....happy as a clam!

 

Here is a pic from my tank showing the spread of lighting ;D

http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?photo=birdlady/Rocks_MH.jpg

 

yeah the glittering effect is the best. it's awsome it looks like the roof of an indoor pool during a sunny day. it's really quite amazing. Yes with MH u can get anything, from acros to brains to clams to xenia. It's awsome and everything u have now under the PC will change even more pretty and awsome then they already are. I have 2x250 HQI MH pendants with 20K bulbs and it's awsome. I had a 260 watt PC fixture but now that i have the MH there is a huge difference in my tanks apperarence. you won't regret it.

 

The glitter effect is nice Birdlady. I think I am sold on the Halide. And I think I will do the 250w. Makes sense I guess. I can always raise the lighting if need be. Or maybe even reduce the wattage of the bulb if it turns out to be too much??? Or is that a no no with these types of fixtures? I can see whay you wouldn't want to go up in wattage with the specific ballast, but it would seem that going down would not harm anything??

Who knows. I am too new yet for this stuff.

Thanks again to all that have helped. It is appreciated.

T

 

Oh, darnit. You got me on that question....I don't know!

Good question! ;D If you can raise the light, I don't think you will need to downgrade the bulb tho.

 

Poppy828 If you change the wattage of your MH bulb you will also have to change your ballast to match it ..... John

 

Poppy,
I'll add my 2 cents, if you don't mind
I would go with 250W HQI. The HQI is important because with an HQI Ballast you can run almost all the bulbs out on the market. This will not limit your choices later. The higher the light the more spill light. Meaning your room will be filled with intense light. Another option would be to get 2X175W. This would allow you to have the lights lower and utilize all the light for your tank. I would also add PC or VHO for actinics.

Jason

 

i have the 250 HQI and i would reccommend it for to get. I have 20K bulbs which the like the bluness and u don't need actinics with it.

 

It's so nice logging onto the site and see responses to the many questions I have. THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

I understand what each of you are saying and it does make sense. As far as going with 250w HQI, what brand, type is the most effecient cost effective? What are everyones thoughts on that? If I am going to spend the money on this fixture, I want to spend it once and be done with it. So input on the best is appreciated. When I tackle a project, I like to go all out and give 150%. I won't do anything halfarsed. (I watched the A$$ for Johno on that one and of course Birdalady...LOL)

Just as an FYI for everyone, I am running a 46g bow front. 36" wide and 18" tall.

Thanks yet again.

T

 

you could try coralvue. thats what i have. i have 2 pendants and 2 ballasts for each of them.