What are your oppinions and recommendations as far as a metal halide light for my 30 gallon cube. I have a kessil a 350w now and like it but the growth and color I have seen from metal halide leaves me wanting more. I have considered t5 as well but there is not a fixture that fits my tank dimenaions. If you know of one let me know. Thanks for the help and advice.
Metal halide for 30 gallon.
- Thread starter J.guokas
- Start date
A 150w halide should be more than enough.
What I would do is get a 150w halide pendant and attach some LED blue accent lights on the pendant.
Something like http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/hamilton-cayman-sun-double-ended-metal-halide-reflector.html with 2 of the 12 inch http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23510 for LED accents and moon lights.
What I would do is get a 150w halide pendant and attach some LED blue accent lights on the pendant.
Something like http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/hamilton-cayman-sun-double-ended-metal-halide-reflector.html with 2 of the 12 inch http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23510 for LED accents and moon lights.
Get a high quality one with a M79 ballast. The fishneedit has a cheap electronic ballast that will under perform in every aspect. This is a bad-azz fixture, but you will need to buy the bulb... and you can drive up to Loveland and get 'em if you want:
http://www.aqua-medic.com/product/ocean-light-1x150w/
150W HQI with 14K phoenix is a nice choice.
If you want to try one before you buy, I probably have a few laying around that I could brush the dust off of.
http://www.aqua-medic.com/product/ocean-light-1x150w/
150W HQI with 14K phoenix is a nice choice.
If you want to try one before you buy, I probably have a few laying around that I could brush the dust off of.
Halide is going to draw and consume quite a bit more power than an LED. Just an example, from going form MH on the 180 to LEDs on the 75 my electricity bill has substantailly dropped, like $100 a month.
This is my first stab with LEDs, Ive always been a MH guy and I have to say in my opinion Im seeing better colors and havnt noticed any decline in growth under the LEDs. I wasnt able to keep SPS in the big tank for some reason yet all SPS in the 75 are doing great, that pink birdsnest I got from you has tons of new growth.
This is my first stab with LEDs, Ive always been a MH guy and I have to say in my opinion Im seeing better colors and havnt noticed any decline in growth under the LEDs. I wasnt able to keep SPS in the big tank for some reason yet all SPS in the 75 are doing great, that pink birdsnest I got from you has tons of new growth.
$100 holy crap!!! That insane. I wonder if it would be that substantial running just one 150 watt halide. I have always ran led and have been happy with it but lately the tanks I've seen running halide have faster growth and crazy color. I have growth with my kessil and color isn't bad but the same corals I have looked crazy under halide or t5. I honestly never even considered it until the saw the sps in bajamikes tanks. Insane growth and color.
They kessil is about 100 real watts and the 150W HQI MH will be about 160 - both have some overhead that the bulb does not have. 60 watts for 8 hours is 480 watts a day. At .10 a KWH, that is 4.8 cents a day more electricity. They heater will run less while the halide is on (it will still run, but less), so there is some savings there that will take that 4.8 cents down a bit.
I run 6 250W halides over all of my tanks for 8 hours, which is 1650w per hour (with the overage) for 8 hours or 13200 watts a day (13.2 kwh) at 10 cents a kwh or $1.32 a day... for real... measured with a Kill-a-watt. My heaters use about $1.50-2.50 a day - or more like $5 a day a few weeks ago when it was below freezing all the time. I have no idea how halides could cost $100 a month and I have used them for year and years. A sequence pump could easily triple, or more the cost of halides since they run 24x7. Heaters too.
If you are into SPS, then don't even look at LED. I know that I will get clowned and made fun of for saying this, but some of the people who once used to have clowned me have different opinions now. LED are not the same as MH, T5 and VHO for SPS... not even close. These are my opinions... others will disagree.
I run 6 250W halides over all of my tanks for 8 hours, which is 1650w per hour (with the overage) for 8 hours or 13200 watts a day (13.2 kwh) at 10 cents a kwh or $1.32 a day... for real... measured with a Kill-a-watt. My heaters use about $1.50-2.50 a day - or more like $5 a day a few weeks ago when it was below freezing all the time. I have no idea how halides could cost $100 a month and I have used them for year and years. A sequence pump could easily triple, or more the cost of halides since they run 24x7. Heaters too.
If you are into SPS, then don't even look at LED. I know that I will get clowned and made fun of for saying this, but some of the people who once used to have clowned me have different opinions now. LED are not the same as MH, T5 and VHO for SPS... not even close. These are my opinions... others will disagree.
Locally, check with Great White or AA. You can probably find 10x places to buy them online. I might suggest that you look at some first - there are probably guys with 14K Phoenix near you.
You can probably use Phoenix 14K for 2 years. I do. You can read this and make your own conclusions:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php
Somewhere on the interwebs is a follow-up test that goes for another year (2 total) that shows even more small dropoff and no shift in spectrum.
The phoenix should be less than $60... every other year. Pretty cheap IMO for a world-class quality light.
You can probably use Phoenix 14K for 2 years. I do. You can read this and make your own conclusions:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php
Somewhere on the interwebs is a follow-up test that goes for another year (2 total) that shows even more small dropoff and no shift in spectrum.
The phoenix should be less than $60... every other year. Pretty cheap IMO for a world-class quality light.