Going for a 40 Breeder build

geekengineer

Cleaner Shrimp
#21
So is a PFO a hybrid between VHO and MH? just double checking what you mean there. Also what do you think I should ask roughly for it if I were to go get it? Do you know how much wattage it would require? I was a bit worried about MH cause it usually uses a lot of power.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#22
I forgot how much it was, but I remember thinking that it was cheap. Have cash and offer them less and see what happens.

If you ever come over, all that you will see is MH. There are no efficiency in lighting types - it takes the same wattage to output the same amount of light. You migth find some people who were torqued because they had higher electric bills when they had MH, but they just choose wrong... like a pair of 400w bulbs over a 55g tank when a pair of 70 or 150w would have been fine.

This is a good watch on lighting... just facts and he stays away from any kind of opinions. You can see in here that some non-blue LEDs are actually less efficient than any other types of light, but who cares... the rest are all about the same and some types of MH are slightly better. He also does a good job of explaining how to see through, or adjust for, the general lighting tools that some people use - corals use a wider range than we can see.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#27
That is Chinese junk. It will put out light, but you can do a lot better - middling effort at light.

If you like that used one and want to only run a single bulb, I can probably help you modify it.
 

geekengineer

Cleaner Shrimp
#29
OK i think I misunderstood what you meant that two ME fixtures would be better than one correct? I though you were talking about modifying the cheap Chinese one. Never mind.
 

Andrew_bram

Tiger Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#30
I have a 150 sunpod metal halide. Not sure if it's enough for the breeder but jda would know.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

geekengineer

Cleaner Shrimp
#37
One thought is would you think I need a chiller with MH lighting?

Also I forgot to talk about this but is there anything wrong with just going with all T5 solution? That's' what I was thinking before mainly so I didn't have to use too much power and worry about as much heat production etc.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#38
T5s are fine. You won't save any electricity, though. 8xT5s are 450 watts. 6x is 340 watts, or so. T5 are great lights, for sure.

I need a fan in the summertime, but right now, the heat is a blessing. Heat is an easy problem to solve if you want to solve it - it is only really a problem in July for a few weeks. I don't use a chiller, and have a few on hand from when I lived in the Midwest.
 

geekengineer

Cleaner Shrimp
#39
Had to go to a little dinner party tonight so just getting back. Hope you don't mind the 20 questions, but thanks for all the information. I think andrew offered to sell me a T5 fixture as well. So would 6XT5s heat up the tank just as much if not more as the 250W of Metal Halide? I see if I get time to go check it out the PFO tomorrow wish it wasn't so snowy.
 
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