Lighting Suggestions (Metal Halide?!?!)

[maporsche]

I currently have a 120 gallon tank and I need to upgrade my lighting so that in the future lighting will not limit the reef inhabitants I can keep.

I would like to spend less than $200 if possible on a good setup. I hear Metal Halide is the way to go, but I have NO IDEA on how to set this up or what I would need.

Help?

 

[NewInTown]

I dont think your going to get much for MH for $200 innless you get it used

Im not sure on the dimensions of you tank but three 250W mh should work great if your tank is 6 ft long. if its 4 ft you might be able to get away with two. and if its deeper than 24 In I would go with 400W.

you did not say what you plan on keeping but I assume that if your looking at MH that you want to keep Clams and Sps ect.

check out hellolights.com I buy all of my MH light from them I think A 250W retro kit runs $150 and includes the bulb

 

[DragonForce]

For a 120 gal tank, you are going to need more than one MH fixture. 3 or 4 250w MH fixtures would yeild what your looking for.

I built my own 175w fixture for under 150 dollars.

200 bucks won't be enough to provide your tank with ample lighting. You should save up and spend the cash to do it right.

And trust me, you could have one of the most beautiful 120 gallon tanks around if you are willing to spend the money.

 

[Brenden]

I agree $200 will not get you far unless you find something used then the replacement bulbs will cost you. Save up some more $ like dragonforce said and do it right.

 

[maporsche]

I dont think your going to get much for MH for $200 innless you get it used

Im not sure on the dimensions of you tank but three 250W mh should work great if your tank is 6 ft long. if its 4 ft you might be able to get away with two. and if its deeper than 24 In I would go with 400W.

you did not say what you plan on keeping but I assume that if your looking at MH that you want to keep Clams and Sps ect.

check out hellolights.com I buy all of my MH light from them I think A 250W retro kit runs $150 and includes the bulb

My tank dimensions are 61 long x 18 wide x 24 deep. So based on your post, you're suggesting that 3 250 watt kits is what I should go for?

I went to hellolights.com and found the retrofit kits, it's asking here
http://www.hellolights.com/hidretrofitkit.html
if I want magnetic ballest or electronic ballest kits. What one do I want? And what is the difference from probe or pulse start?

Would you go to that site and post a link of what you suggest I get?

Thanks guys.

 

[mfrei64]

Be prepared for a temp elevation with your new lights. If you don't have a chiller, you may wish to aquire one.. Pricey, but worth the price. Your corals will love you for it.

 

[DragonForce]

Those MH retro kits look like good quality to me. I personally have a magnetic pulse start setup.

You can save a good chunk of cash using a magnetic ballast.

Electronic ballasts are more energy efficient(saving a dollar or 2 at best) and quieter(although you probably will not notice an audible difference between the 2)

The difference between pulse start and probes start, to my understanding, is that pulse start improves over lighting strength and longivity.

The last thing you need to do is decide on what bulbs. I personally bought a 10k 175w XM bulb.

I think they are a decent choice, I have been happy with mine so far.

If you don't plan on supplementing actinic lighting then you may consider 15k to give you water a bluer tint.

Here is the same bulb I bought, but in 15k
http://cgi.ebay.com/XM-250-Watt-15K...ryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I hope this helps you out. Good luck!

 

[maporsche]

So with your suggestions, the MH setup for my particular tank would run upwards of $650.

What would you suggest along the lines of flourescent lighting if I instead chose to go that route.

 

[mfrei64]

power compacts are a great, more inexpensive alternative if you don't plan on sps. Plus, they are much cooler.

 

[tecwzrd]

So with your suggestions, the MH setup for my particular tank would run upwards of $650.

Aquatraders has some of the best deals on lights I've seen.

You could do a 60" MH/PC for $349 plus about $50 for shipping giving you 785W
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=184

What would you suggest along the lines of flourescent lighting if I instead chose to go that route.

Or a 60" PC for $129 plus about $50 for shipping giving you 322W
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=26

Really just depends what you want to keep down the road. Personally I'd save for the MH/PC combo.

 

[maporsche]

So with your suggestions, the MH setup for my particular tank would run upwards of $650.

Aquatraders has some of the best deals on lights I've seen.

You could do a 60" MH/PC for $349 plus about $50 for shipping giving you 785W
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=184

Wow, that is a great price. Thanks for posting. A couple of questions about the setup. 1) I could only use one timer because there is only 1 power cord. Is there a problem with that? 2) The enclosure for the lights has a splash guard but is there anything else I'd need to worry about. This light would go in my canopy (about 10in from the water). 3) It looks like this sytem comes with the bulbs included. Are these bulbs quality? 4) Have you ordered from them before, are they reputable?

 

[tecwzrd]

The one cord is what stops some people from ordering from this company due to the fact they don’t want ALL the lights on with timers or they don’t want to have to switch them on\off themselves. It might be possible to rewire them but I wouldn’t attempt it unless I was a qualified electrician. IMO for the price I can do it manually. It really only becomes more of an issue with going out of town for extended periods of time.

From the looks of it I don’t think it would fit easily in a canopy which is why they have mounting brackets similar to these: http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=123

But if your canopy was large enough to house it I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, just make sure it’s vented well.

Not sure about the bulbs or service but you could PM lando about his MH/PC purchase from them. He has stated that he is happy with the lights themselves.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=524490&highlight=#524490

Personally I’m hopping I do hear from more people here about these lights as the price is right but have little to go on for the service. I know they run out of stock often which can be a pain but for the size you are looking for it’s not currently an issue.

 

[ellisz]

I would think a 2x250 would work. It might be dimmer on the side but 3 MH's on a 5ft tank seem over kill to me. You can use VHO pr PC's to hide this. Heat will be an issue with 3 MH's. I know a guy that uses 2 400W on a 6ft 125 gal and it looks nice. He uses VHO lights to suppliment.

I bought my 2x250 retro for around $200 I think used. You could always do that. Depends on if you want to build a canopy or not.

Just another .02

 

[tecwzrd]

I would think a 2x250 would work. It might be dimmer on the side but 3 MH's on a 5ft tank seem over kill to me.

The 3 MH bulbs that are on the aquatraders site are 175w which comes to 525w. Is there much of a heat difference with 3 175w versus 2 250w which add up to 500w?

I use PC so I really don’t know. My lfs uses these lights from ODYSSEA and the tanks look great. The lights are all mounted from the ceiling about 10” from the top of the tanks.

I would imagine if you have a center bracket supporting the tank instead of 2 spaced that the 3rd light could pose a problem with heat though.

 

[maporsche]

The one cord is what stops some people from ordering from this company due to the fact they don’t want ALL the lights on with timers or they don’t want to have to switch them on\off themselves. It might be possible to rewire them but I wouldn’t attempt it unless I was a qualified electrician. IMO for the price I can do it manually. It really only becomes more of an issue with going out of town for extended periods of time.

From the looks of it I don’t think it would fit easily in a canopy which is why they have mounting brackets similar to these: http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=123

But if your canopy was large enough to house it I can’t see why it wouldn’t work, just make sure it’s vented well.

Not sure about the bulbs or service but you could PM lando about his MH/PC purchase from them. He has stated that he is happy with the lights themselves.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?p=524490&highlight=#524490

Personally I’m hopping I do hear from more people here about these lights as the price is right but have little to go on for the service. I know they run out of stock often which can be a pain but for the size you are looking for it’s not currently an issue.

I'm currently building my own canopy (the base/frame is in the garage drying now) so depending on the dimensions I could make it fit.

Now with the light/timer issue. I raised that question but I really don't know what the problem is. Would it be bad to have those lights on at the same time as the flourescents? I know very little about the lighting requirements of a reef tank so please excuse my ignorance.

I will be emailing the company today to find out the dimensions and the cooling requirements.

 

[tecwzrd]

Now with the light/timer issue. I raised that question but I really don't know what the problem is. Would it be bad to have those lights on at the same time as the fluorescents? I know very little about the lighting requirements of a reef tank so please excuse my ignorance.

Most people like to cycle their lights at different times. For example:

PC on from 10am to 8pm
MH on from 11am to 7pm
Moon lights on from 7pm to morning.

This is just a basic example as I don’t have MH or a reef system, just a FOWLR.

I think lighting both all the time could lead to excessive algae growth. I’d ask the more experienced reefers how they light their tanks & for how long.