planning on going mh, need advice (1 Viewer)

[toan]

well currently my canopy is setup like this

6vho's and 2 of these.. how many watts is it?

im a super light noobie well anyways

i was wondering what mh hanging system people prefer because there are so many types of bulbs and fixtures im not sure what to go with

each "square" (2) in the canopy is 16"x20"

but i want to have at least 3 actinic bulbs
anyone have suggestions?

also im not sure what K to go
im only used to car hid's , i see people listing 20k mh bulbs which in my book should make the light look extremely pink or orange lol

 

[Guest]

What size tank is that?

 

[toan]

144g half circle

 

[Guest]

Taon, here's your spec sheet for the ballast?
Looks to be about 330w total...

 

[Guest]

Might help if I add the link...
http://209.204.76.225/pdf/430.pdf

 

[crvz]

Hey toan! I'm not real sure if I'm clear on what your hoping to do. I assume you are looking for 2 separate MH fixtures for each section in the canopy. And then you also want to have 3 actinic bulbs. Are these going to be VHO, PC, T5? There are a number of different options for the actinics, and it looks like you've already got a ballast for that (the Icecap 430 is good for flourescent lighting).

It looks like you've already got VHO, so can we assume you want to take out 3 of your VHO bulbs, leave the other 3, and then add 2 MH fixtures that hang? And where are you hanging them from, the ceiling? Or just mounted to hang somewhere on the canopy?

 

[crvz]

Jumping ahead, in terms of K values, the 20K are on the blue end, and 10K are more of a yellow (but typically inspire a little better growth from corals). Really just matters to your preference in most cases, but on that size (depth) of a tank you're probably going to want 250W MH fixtures.

 

[i_am_poor]

you can do

/ o | o \

10k MHs
blue t5s

 

[FireEater]

There are some folks starting to go T5 only setups and are growing SPS's like mad with them.

You do not get the heat like MH's and the electricity costs associated with MH's.

I am seriously considering selling my setup and going T5 only. Reefalot (Kevin) runs T5's on an SPS tank. Plus I'm sure everyone has seen the big T5 setup on RC that the person has on his SPS tank.

 

[toan]

It looks like you've already got VHO, so can we assume you want to take out 3 of your VHO bulbs, leave the other 3, and then add 2 MH fixtures that hang? And where are you hanging them from, the ceiling? Or just mounted to hang somewhere on the canopy?

thats exactly what i want to do, hopefully make a bracket to just lay on the canopy, that way i can just take it down when i do maintenance,

im going to stick with the vho's i already have

in regards to what type of MH
i've seen some with big cylinder bulbs, double end bulbs, and single end bulbs..
so my new question is what lasts longer? what bulbs are cheaper? etc

i think i will have to see what the 10k vs 20k looks like with all the actinic i would have going on because i would like a blueish tint but not sooo blue that it looks dark in the tank

 

[crvz]

I wouldnt quite say I "grow like mad", but I have been using T5 for about 15 months with good success. Definitely another option.

 

[toan]

There are some folks starting to go T5 only setups and are growing SPS's like mad with them.

You do not get the heat like MH's and the electricity costs associated with MH's.

I am seriously considering selling my setup and going T5 only. Reefalot (Kevin) runs T5's on an SPS tank. Plus I'm sure everyone has seen the big T5 setup on RC that the person has on his SPS tank.

could t5's run off the 2 ballasts that i currently have with the vho's?
each ballast is 330 watts so tahts 660 watts for a 144g
only problem with my tank is that its pretty deep.. i'll get the measurements when i go home

 

[ShaneV]

You could run 3 4 ft T5's with the IceCap 430.s

Not sure on the depth as a 144 half circle is 29" deep . My T5's do great to the bottom of my tank, but its 24 " deep

 

[Guest]

I'd go with the VHO's for actinics and 2x250w mh. buying retro kits alow you to design where you want them. Although, it is nice to have a pendant as well.
I have two spider reflectors attached to a piece of 1x8 board. It is held up, by the ends of the board, by two blocks at either end of the canopy.
I like the /0|0\ idea for set-up.

 

[toan]

i just dont want the electricity bill to spike so much =x maybe i should go with the t5's

ahhh decisions decisions

 

[FireEater]

You will see an increase in the electricity bill with the MH's.

I run 3 250w 14k Hamiltons and that is just my MH's. The bill jumped up but pretty much anything we add to our systems affect the bill.

You just need to find the right balance I guess.

 

[i_am_poor]

You run about 600w of VHO right now so switching to (2)250w + (3) 24w t5 blues equals to almost the same. Also, people run MH on a shorter cycle.

 

[Guest]

here's a couple of debates for ya'..
http://www.rasoc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6549&highlight=T5

http://www.rasoc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6409&highlight=T5

http://www.rasoc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5654&highlight=T5

 

[Guest]

We can figuer out how many watts you are running with your lights untill you say how long the bulbs are. I didnt see it but i might have missed.

 

[toan]

well theres 2 ballast, each ballast is powering 3 vho bulbs

so thats 6vho bulbs @ 48" each