Different halides?

[mustangcaleb]

im thinking about building a canopy for my biocube and putting a halide in there. but i have no experience with them and need you guys input. i know there is single ended(se), double ended(de), and hqi. what is the main difference, other than the obvious, and why is one better than the other?

ive looked around alittle and was thinking the coralvue lumen bright mini, being 16", would prob work well over my 20" tank. i see 90% of nanos running 150w, is that the best? would 250w be way overkill?

 

[mopar9012]

I have 150W mh over my standard 29.
I think 250 would be over kill.

I can already keep basically anything, as far as lighting goes.

 

[mustangcaleb]

what kind of bulb is it? se or de? which is more common?

 

[william1]

I have just recently put a 400watt and a lumenlight reflector (single ended bulb) over my 55 cube which is 19"deep. The bulb is about 15" off the water and everthing seems to be doing fine. Theres a very small photoperiod for the first couple of weeks... The ballast is dimable. so its turned down right now and I will slowly increase that watts as well over time.

 

[skriz]

I had a 250w SE over my 29 and loved it. I had an open back canopy and no heat issues.

I would base the decision of SE vs. DE on the bulb you want to use. SE has more options, but there may be some bulbs that are only available in one format. Phoenix is now available as SE; that's a very popular DE bulb.

 

[weaglereefer]

WILLIAM1;299558 wrote: I have just recently put a 400watt and a lumenlight reflector (single ended bulb) over my 55 cube which is 19"deep. The bulb is about 15" off the water and everthing seems to be doing fine. Theres a very small photoperiod for the first couple of weeks... The ballast is dimable. so its turned down right now and I will slowly increase that watts as well over time.

I remember reading somewhere that some bulbs got the best PAR at 70-80%, instead of full bright 100%.