Im thinking about going back to halides.Right now Im running a 8bulb t5 setup and miss the shimmer after the halide runs on my nano all day. My canopy is only 16" Tall. Wondering what reflectors,ballast and bulb combo you guys have?Please list bulbs SE or DE,Ballast,reflectors,and how far the bottom of the bulb is away from water.
Whats your Metal Halide set up?
- Thread starter markl
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My canopy isn't any taller than that on my 93 cube. I run 2 - 250 DE MH's in a pair of PFO reflectors. I've got a twin 8" fan on the back because my canopy is completely enclosed. My ballast are ARO. I'm using one 10k and one 20k bulb to get the growth/blue balance. Bulbs are about 7" off of water.
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I've got a 30" tall tank, and my canopy is tall as well, about 15". I run three lumen max elite reflectors, with three 400w se radiums driven by the good ol monster pfo dual 400w ballast. I have two of them so I actually have the ability to run one more 400, to make a total of 4, but my tank is only 5' and three of the reflector/bulb combo I listed above are perfect!! I have fantastic growth on the sand bed, two happy clams! I'm curious to see what kind of par readings I can get on my sand bed. I also run 4 of the Ecoexotic LED modules for a my actinics! Love them!
Mark,
You might also consider adding a daylight LED strip to the tank instead of a complete switch. This may give you the shimmer you need.
If you do switch, with your canopy dimensions, I would look at Lumenmax Elite reflectors. I use Lumenbright reflectors, but I don't have any space constraints regarding how high I can hang them (pendants, no canopy). I would look at one reflector for each 24" x 24" area you need to light up. if your tank is 24" depth or less or primarily LPS, look at 250 watt ballast/bulb combos. If it is a 210 or similar (about 30" tall) or is going to be mostly SPS, I'd look at 400 watt combos.
I use and like SE bulbs, as right now there are more choices in bulbs for SE sockets. Ballasts, I use and like CoralVue electric ballasts. IceCap is going out of business, so I don't know about future parts or service availability with their brand. Lumatek and Galaxy also make nice electronic ballasts.
I use Radium bulbs in my 400 and 250 light setups (more than one reef tank).
You might also consider adding a daylight LED strip to the tank instead of a complete switch. This may give you the shimmer you need.
If you do switch, with your canopy dimensions, I would look at Lumenmax Elite reflectors. I use Lumenbright reflectors, but I don't have any space constraints regarding how high I can hang them (pendants, no canopy). I would look at one reflector for each 24" x 24" area you need to light up. if your tank is 24" depth or less or primarily LPS, look at 250 watt ballast/bulb combos. If it is a 210 or similar (about 30" tall) or is going to be mostly SPS, I'd look at 400 watt combos.
I use and like SE bulbs, as right now there are more choices in bulbs for SE sockets. Ballasts, I use and like CoralVue electric ballasts. IceCap is going out of business, so I don't know about future parts or service availability with their brand. Lumatek and Galaxy also make nice electronic ballasts.
I use Radium bulbs in my 400 and 250 light setups (more than one reef tank).
On my 140 (55x24x24) I have 3x175W SE Reeflux bulbs in the original LumenBright minis powered by ARO ballasts. I also have 2x110w VHO actinics. My canopy is 15" tall. I also have 2x5" radio shack ac power fans on both sides.
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Very much like PorpoiseAquatics, I have 2x PFO 250w DE lights, but I'm using Ushio 20K bulbs and EVC ballasts. Mine are about 8"-9" from water to bulb on a 90g tank, and I get between 250-300 PAR at the sand, and about 750 at the surface of the water.
My canopy is only 6" tall with a 4" variable speed fan blowing in. I have 3, 175W 10K's that are only three inches off the water. Have homemade polished aluminum reflectors. Also have two 65w PC's that are 50/50. 150g Tank is 24x24x60 so 175's are enough. Have to have a chiller, but small price to pay to get good light and good sps growth.
Worth mentioning for sure... with the setup above I have to use a chiller even with 2 four-inch fans, unless I want to keep the house at 74 degrees all summer (and that would cost a lot more than running a chiller). With a 1/6hp chiller and a reefkeeper, my daily temp swings are .5 degrees (and the chiller really doesn't run that much).
cr500 af brings up another good point. The RK2 is invaluable for light control as well as a host of other things. Additionally it provides a safety feature that shuts off halides (or other heat generating items) it tank temp gets too high. Great feature. A multi-device controller gives great peace of mind.
Custom. It's still not complete, waiting on some quick disconnect hardware, but the blue is insane! They are the cheap LEDs from Steve's LEDs website. Had I known about ledgroupbuy.com I would have just bought Cree LEDs for half the price instead of going with an off brand that's untested. I will be testing Steve's LEDs against Cree LEDs with my par meter so see how the knock off LED stacks up.
/ led rant.
/ led rant.
Only once. We had the heat on while we were out of town and I got a text message that my tank broke 82deg. I suddenly remembered we had the heat on because it was cold and for one random day it was 80deg outside, which heated up the house to high 70s. The fans can keep the tank cool as long as the house is in the mid to low 70s. Needless to say the tank temp hit 83 around 5p.m. and the RKE killed the lights. Within two hrs the tank was back to 80.5.
I don't have a 1/4 horse chiller in my budget just yet so for now this system is dependable. I will add a chiller in the future and it will ONLY kick in if the AC in the house fails and my tank temp goes over 82.
I have a dinky 1/10hp chiller set to run at 83 now....just in case.
I have a cube 24x24x30tall and I run a Radium 250watt 20K SE about 12" from the water. With a lumenbright reflector I seem to get great coverage. I dont run any T5's or PC. I have thought about it in the past but I seem to have good colors and nice growth.
