to many watts?

Discussion in 'Metal Halide Aquarium Lighting' started by A4_Andre, Oct 3, 2009.

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  1. A4_Andre

    A4_Andre Astrea Snail

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    so i'm thinking about grabbing a metal halide from someone on craigslist for an awesome price. Not including the LED's, it has an output of about 720 watts. that's about 9 watts per gallon for my 75g tank. is this to much?

    i dont want to hang the light from the ceiling so it's only going to be on the stands.
     
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  3. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    Thats fine. I actually have more than that. Just be sure to acclimate your corals.
     
  4. A4_Andre

    A4_Andre Astrea Snail

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    or! what if i were to replace the 250w halides with 150w ones? would the ballasts cause them to have a shorter life span?
     
  5. oceanparadise1

    oceanparadise1 Fire Squid

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    pretty sure the ballast would not run them
     
  6. bioreefdude

    bioreefdude Fu Manchu Lion Fish

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    a 250w on a 150w ballast would work but vice versa ur begging for problems
     
  7. Dr.Fragenstein

    Dr.Fragenstein Panda Puffer

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    You could pull it off if you slowly acclimate the corals to the light intensity but IME why would you WANT to use so much wattage... Energy bill is gonna spike and most of your corals will photosaturate at PAR levels lower than what you will be providing...
     
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  9. Gexx

    Gexx Giant Squid

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    you are gonna get raped by the energy bill.... just be sure to acclimate your corals and take out a loan before you do it... lol